Reflections: The Uprising
by sweet-destiny3
Summary: Scott has gone crazy...Rogue is fed up with her powers...A new mutant has appeared out of nowhere...Jean has forgotten...FoH...and the war against humanity is still in process. Takes place after X2. REVIEW!
1. Default Chapter

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Disclaimer: I only fantasize that I own them. Enough said.

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Author's Note: I owe thanks to my siblings for keeping me in a determined mood. Thank you. Thanks to all the readers out there. Please review because I feed off of reviews and if you liked this story please read any of my others. If you have any stories that you would like me to read, please don't hold back from telling me. This story takes place after X2. Well I hope you enjoy! AND REVIEW!!!

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Pinkchick: A special thanks to my special sister who without her I could not go on. Thank you for everything! And if any of you haven't read her stories, you should! They're great! Her newest on is called Fright Fest, in the X-men Evolution section, and it's creepy! So read it! 

**Reflections: The Uprising**

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Entry one- Day one of a new beginning: 

Funny. I was excited of coming here to the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters after Logan and I were attacked by this guy they call Sabretooth. I believed I was here for them to cure me. When Miss Munroe filled me in on the truth, I was saddened. How will I ever survive with a curse such as this? Incapability of physical human contact.

Entry two- Day "I lost track" : 

It didn't turn out too bad. Not bad at all. Pretty great actually. Logan cares about me and will always be there to protect me. This was proven true after the Liberty Island incident. It was also proven that I have a family now that loves me. I made good friends, hope to become part of the X-men one day, and I met my possible future husband. I don't know too much about that last one. Because there is no possible way Bobby and I can even kiss, much less end up married. That involves physical contact. And I was cursed with a gift of not being allowed to have physical contact with anyone. Oh…… I have to go now. Bobby's here.

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Scott's eyes shot open behind his ruby-quartz sunglasses with great force. He uncovered the covers from his muscular body and sat upright on the side of his large bed. It had been two weeks and two days in counting since the death of Jean at Alkali Lake. Ever since then, at night and in the mornings, he said a little prayer to help him and everyone else to get through the day. He never surpassed mentioning the name "Jean" in his prayers.

Scott turned to Jean's picture and knew what he was going to do next. What he did every morning. He got up from his bed and got dressed. He left his room and headed outside to smell the fresh air. He went over to the beautiful garden behind the mansion. He looked at all the lovely smelling flowers.

His eyes quickly moved towards the red one on the ground. He suddenly felt his heart ache with pain, misery, despair, and loneliness. He bent down to pick it up and when he retreated back to the top he noticed a familiar figure in the corner of his view.

"Good morning Scott," Ororo said politely, knowing that Scott would be very quiet as usual lately.

"Good morning Storm," Scott answered in the same polite manner. He gave her a small, reassuring smile and headed back to his room. On any normal day she would have given him a lecture about picking her beautiful plants without permission. But everyday for the past week and probably forever, she would let him pick her roses. For she knew they were for Jean. 

Scott entered his room and placed the flower with the rest of them around Jean's picture.

Suddenly a cold breeze blew by him in a rush. He looked over to the door and creased his eyebrows. That was definitely not Storm working her power because she was outside. It wasn't Logan because he was practicing his teaching skills with Professor Xavier along with Kurt. Logan had been teaching art recently and is now headed towards forming training sessions for the students. This was to help them develop control over their power. Rogue was with Bobby at the park. So it couldn't be one of them. 

"Maybe it's one of the kids," Scott told himself reassuringly. He checked outside his door but there was no one there. The windows were closed. So where was the breeze coming from?

Scott heard something irritating in his ear. It sounded like fireworks crackling. They were getting louder and louder by the second. He shut his eyes in pain and fell to the ground. He put his hands through his brown hair and clutched several strands tightly. Then one hand fell from his hair and went immediately over his heart. His breaths started getting faster and deeper every time he felt his heart beat with intensity and ached with pain.

He let out a loud shriek as he held on to the door. His grip was strong against it and he caused the door to close. The door was shut tightly as his screams started getting quiet. His other hand let go of his hair and now both hands clutched his heart. He opened his eyes in horror and he could feel fire burning inside them. 

He fell to the ground with his hands still clutched to his heart. His body started trembling as his screams descended.

His eyelids were brought down slowly over his eyes while his trembling never stopped.

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"Logan, we cannot make the training sessions for the students too difficult," Professor Xavier said with his British accent. "They are just beginners."

"Come on," Logan said with a slight smirk. "I figured if Kitty, Jubilee, and Piotr think of Cyke as the greatest teacher in the world, they can handle this." Logan said jokingly without a laugh. Nothing but silence was followed after his retort. And he knew exactly why. It hasn't been easy for any of them, especially Scott. Logan always tried to lighten the mood but at night he would secretly check on Cyclops to make sure he was alright.

"Professor, I zink it is time for a break now," Kurt said as he bent his head down because of Professor X's wheelchair. He had been fitting in fine here despite his unusual appearance. No one minded that he had a tail, blue skin, yellow eyes, and three fingers. That's what he loved here. Everyone excepted him for who he was, not what he looked like.

"Kurt, I understand what you are trying to say," Professor said as he turned his head away slightly. "But we cannot simply ignore our students' needs and our duties." Kurt nodded slightly.

Logan tried to ignore the silence more than ever. "Any news about the President?"

"We don't know anything yet," Professor Xavier said lightly. "He is going to be on the seven o'clock news tomorrow. After canceling the speech on television the time we gave him a visit, there seems to be a slight chance that he is doing the right thing. Now all we have to do is have hope."

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Rogue held on tightly to Bobby's hands. She felt warm under his touch even though she could not feel his bare skin beneath her gloves. Bobby looked over to her, wanting to kiss her, but was afraid of the consequences.

Everything had not been so good after Alkali Lake happened. Rogue and Bobby were mourning over Jean, but were in greater shock of how John joined Magneto. They were usually quiet together for the past two weeks, but still enjoyed the pleasure of each other's company.

"Now that Scott is taking a short break from teaching, we won't have to go through his tough tests," Bobby said attempting to make Rogue smile. Rogue gave a short nod and sighed. 

She watched couples walking by in the park holding hands with their bare skin. Rogue tried to ignore them and tried to stay focused on her own relationship. But they walked by another couple on the bench holding on to each other's lips. Rogue squinted her eyes as her throat tightened. _Don't cry Rogue_, she told herself demandingly. _He's still here isn't he_. Rogue looked over to Bobby, who's attention was turned to the road that was next to the park. 

"You mutant can just stay away from my son," the woman said irritably as she grabbed the teenage boy and left.

The mutant knitted his eyebrows and ran across the street. There was a car approaching with speed straight ahead. 

"Bobby!" Rogue exclaimed quickly as Bobby reached out his hand and froze the tires of the car before it reached the mutant. The mutant boy just stood there staring at Bobby and Rogue. He smiled and immediately walked over to them, ignoring the apologies of the guilty driver.

"You two are mutants?" he asked with a smile as they nodded their heads hesitantly. The mutant brushed his hand through his dark brown hair as his brown eyes gleamed with delight. "I've never actually met a person like me. I knew they were out there, but…… wow. Not one, but two. Wow."

"We saw you causin trouble out there. You need to be more careful with your powers," Rogue said nicely.

"Look, I was just asking the guy what time it was. I accidentally revealed my power sometime during that short question and his mother freaked out," the mutant boy said truthfully as Rogue and Bobby gave understanding expressions.

"Uh, what exactly is your power?" Bobby asked curiously.

"I can manipulate liquid. Nothing powerful," he said. "I accidentally overflowed the boys soda. Boo hoo." 

"What's your name?" Rogue asked, happy to meet new people. 

"It's Joe. Just Joe," he said as he shook Rogue's extended hand. "I'm eighteen with nowhere to go. No one to be with."

"Why don't you come back to our place," Bobby insisted. He was more than happy to help a person in need of a home and answers to his special power. That was what it was for all of them.

"I don't know," Joe said, not knowing what to say.

"It's a very special place," Rogue said. "You'll fit right in."

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"Vhat's wrong Professor?" Professor Xavier heard Kurt ask in what seemed like a distance.

Professor Xavier's head started spinning around until he was dizzy. When he regained his balance he immediately raced to Scott's room. Logan and Kurt ran after his speeding wheelchair. "Scott!" Professor X exclaimed as he opened the door to find Scott lying on the ground.

Logan bent down towards Scott to check his pulse. "He's fine," Logan said as the pulse appeared to be normal. "Wake up Sport."

"Scott?" Professor Xavier asked as Scott shot upright in his position and looked straight ahead.

"No… please no," Scott said in a murmur. "STOP IT!"

Everyone looked at him in shock at his unusual tone. Professor Xavier sent brainwaves from his mind to Scott's, attempting to find out what was going on. He held his head back in surprise and looked at Kurt and Logan with a worried expression. "Nothing," Professor Xavier muttered slightly under his breath.

"Why are you staring at me?" Scott asked as he tilted his head from side to side slowly as if he didn't know who they were. "Stop it! Stop!! STOP!!! No…… NO… NO… NO…"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Logan asked.

"What? Light…… fire…… STOP! STOP! STOP!" Scott yelled as he started twisting in his position. "NOOO!!!! STOP IT!!"

Scott got up from his position and started running back and forth across his room. Logan, Professor Xavier, and Kurt stared in utter shock at their friend's behavior.

"Jj--Jj……… STOP!" Scott exclaimed then laid down on the floor. "What is this? What is that? What is this? Wow… Jj-- Jj…… STOPP ITT!!!!!

"Has he gone mad?" Kurt asked as they quickly exited the room and shut the door. Professor Xavier and Logan just stood there in silence at Kurt's question.

"Jj-jj-jj-jj," Scott muttered. "STOP IT!!"

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Author's Note: Don't hesitate to click that button in the left hand corner of the screen. REVIEW!!!


	2. Chapter Two

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Disclaimer: I only fantasize. Enough said.

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Author's Note: Thanks to the readers and the reviews. Thanks to my family for everything. Hope you liked my first chapter. If you want to make any suggestions please do so freely. And please review! Thanks! Thanks to Pinkchick who inspires me. If you haven't read her stories you should do so immediately. Thanks to all those readers out there. Read and ENJOY!!!

**Chapter Two**

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Entry six- Day "camping out" :

Felt like writing my thoughts on paper. So I just grabbed an empty notebook from a compartment in the jet. What can I say? This jet has everything. 

While Magneto is filling the X-men in on what's going on with the whole attack on the mansion, Bobby came by to say goodnight to me in my tent. When he went back to his, I decided to come out here. I'm sitting on a broken tree branch right now looking up at the beautiful night sky, full of sparkling stars, and writing in this. Just look at those stars. What a perfect night to share with a special person. What a perfect night to kiss until our lips are tired. What a perfect night to be with each other for the whole night. Don't you think? Wait… I just remembered who I am.

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Magneto sat at his desk in the big metal room. "Come in," he said smugly to the large figure at the door. The person came in slowly. "Welcome back Brother."

All that came in response was low growls and advancing footsteps. The hairy man came forth from the shadows to appear about seven feet, with long hair, sharp teeth, and black eyes. 

"Magneto," a voice called out from nearby. Suddenly John came running into the room. "There was this scary dude at the……"

"Pyro," Magneto said in a slightly irritated expression. "I've already told you to knock once before."

"Sorry," John said as he looked over to Sabretooth.

"The 'scary dude' that you saw is part of the team," Magneto said as he turned to Sabretooth. "Sabretooth, meet Pyro. Our new addition to the Brotherhood. Former student of Charles."

Pyro shifted in his standing position uncomfortably as Magneto left the room, leaving him alone with Sabretooth.

Sabretooth walked over to Magneto's desk and sat in his chair. He looked over to Pyro with an intimidating stare. Pyro immediately sat down, thinking that was what Sabretooth wanted him to do.

There was silence in the room for a few minutes. John fiddled with his lighter continuously.

"Tell me more about your old school," Sabretooth said roughly.

Sabretooth just sat stiffly with delighted eyes and only one thing on his mind. 

Revenge. 

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"You wait here with Bobby," Rogue said to Joe as she headed up the long stairs and turned her head back. "I'll go get the Professor."

Joe didn't move his eyes from Rogue for a second until she was out of sight. Bobby looked over to him with an irritated expression. 

"She's my girlfriend," Bobby said as Joe tried to ignore his comment. Suddenly, a group of children came running into the front doors with sweaty faces and hard breathing. They went into the living room and slumped down on the couches with Kitty and Jubilee, who had already been there. Ten minutes passed, and still no sign of Rogue. "I wonder what's taking Rogue so long? Why don't you go introduce yourself to the others while I go get her."

Joe obeyed and walked into the living room. Everyone turned to look at him with confusion written all over their faces. "Hey everyone. I'm Joe."

Silence.

"Eighteen year-old boy with no family and special powers," Joe said. "Rogue and Bobby brought me here to stay."

"Hey Joe," everyone said with understanding now to what he was doing there.

He walked over to an empty seat on the single couch slowly. He looked at everyone and tried to remember their faces. He looked over at the television screen and the chattering people. They were all talking about how the horror movie on television creeped them out. Joe rolled his eyes and grabbed the remote. He pressed the power button to turn the pathetic movie off.

"Hey! Like what do you think you're doing?" Kitty exclaimed as Joe looked at her with his eyes squinted.

"If you think that was a scary movie then you haven't heard my stories yet," Joe said as they all went silent and listened to him carefully. His voice was low and eerie. "A girl lived once. She died long ago, but her legend still lives."

All the students had their ears open and their eyes concentrated on Joe. "Now, don't get me wrong. _This_ horror story has a moral to it," Joe continued slow and steadily. "This girl was no ordinary girl. She knew not of her identity nor of anything else around her. Not even her own name. She lived alone, in a house full of…" he paused.

"House full of what?" Jubilee asked curiously.

"Mirrors," Joe whispered. "It was covered in mirrors. Every night she would go outside into the wilderness to practice her battle skills and fighting abilities."

Joe took a deep breath and continued. "She was preparing for war against the enemy she sees every morning. That is her objective in life. To defeat her one and only arch nemesis." Joe knitted his eyebrows down in an evil expression and whispered lightly. "The next night, when she felt she was strong enough and ready to encounter this enemy, she called for it to come to her."

Silence.

"She would scream at the top of her lungs, 'come closer you coward!'" Joe screamed in a whisper. "She kept screaming 'COME CLOSER YOU COWARD!' It would not come closer. So she walked up to it with the sharp glass dagger in her hand. She aimed it towards her enemy and the pieces of glass shattered everywhere."

Silence.

"She broke every last piece, just so she could not look at her reflection ever again," Joe said as he hunched over and a shadow was cast upon his face. "She smiled in appreciation of herself but turned around to find a mirror forming all by itself. 'Funny to think you could get rid of me. I _am_ you'. The girl still held the dagger in her bloody hands and raced towards the reflection of herself. Hours and hours passed after she had destroyed the images. But a voice in her head kept telling her the same thing."

"'Funny to think you could get rid of me. I am you'," Piotr said in a mimicking voice. Joe just nodded.

"After that, she just crouched on the floor and broke out in sobs. Blood was now all over the ground," Joe said with a smile. "For she was dead. Slaughtered."

"Like what's the moral of the story?" Kitty asked as she held her hands tightly.

"In order to defeat your enemy, you have to _know _your enemy," Joe said.

"Alright," Bobby said at the entrance of the living room. "That's enough horror stories for one day."

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Rogue stood with a worried expression on her face. She tucked her white strands of hair behind her ear. She had just told Bobby to keep Joe company, while she found out what was going on with Scott. "Is he going to be ok?" she asked, biting her lip down hard.

"I don't know kid," Logan said with a sigh. "I don't know." Logan kept his usual rough expression. He stayed strong enough for all of them. 

Suddenly a bamf sound came from the middle of the dim blue hallway in the lower levels where they had forcefully dragged Scott to the larger room. Storm and Kurt appeared from the smoke as Storm immediately started pacing.

"Is he alright?" Storm asked with worried brown eyes.

"The Professor just went in there and is doing what he can 'Ro," Logan said trying to calm her down.

"Why is he doing this?" she said as her throat tightened and her sound became lighter. "What has gotten into him?" Kurt looked over to her, wanting to comfort her with everything he has to give. He couldn't stand watching Storm like this. He walked over to her and held her hands in his. 

"It's going to be alright," Kurt said whole-heartedly. "Everything vill be fine, ja." Storm's expression softened at his touch and she stopped pacing. Instead, she stood there with her arms crossed and her heel tapping the ground at a fast beat.

"Everything vill be fine," Kurt said to himself unconvincingly.

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Scott bounced the object on the floor and watched it crash in amazement. His expression was childish and his hands trembled. Professor Xavier was going to attempt to find out what is wrong with him by entering his thoughts.

He closed his eyes and concentrated with everything he had inside him. He couldn't give up on Scott. He was like a son to him. The Professor tried going into his mind but he felt something blocking him. Something very powerful.

But that didn't stop him. He knitted his eyebrows together and tried again, but all he got was static and intense heat. His head jolted back and he felt a pain in the back of his head. 

When Professor Xavier closed his eyes to try again, Scott suddenly shot up from his seat and started spinning around in circles. "The world is round, nobody should fall off," Scott said to himself in a childish tone as he fell to the ground and looked at the broken object. "No one should die," he said softly.

Then he pounced on his back and put his hands on his head. "STOP IT!! Jj-Jj-Jj-," he said in a rush. "No, not that. No not that. Would you stop?"

Professor Xavier looked away from Scott painfully and went to his alternative. He was going to sedate him. He slowly walked over to Scott who was cuddled up on the floor now like a baby. He looked up at Professor X weirdly and asked, "Who are you?"

Professor Xavier stuck the needle in Scott's arm to sedate him for a while. He waited until Scott went unconscious. But nothing happened. Scott was still cuddled up like a baby on the floor muttering non-understandable things.

Professor Xavier was confused. He sighed a long sigh and inhaled deeply. He decided he was going to leave Scott alone for now. _At least he's settled down just a little_, he thought with sadness as he peered over to Scott, who was laying there talking to himself. He opened the door to see Logan, Storm, Kurt, and Rogue standing there impatiently. 

"Scott has always been there for everyone," Professor Xavier stated with a stiff expression as he looked straight ahead. "It's your heart's duty to be there for him now."

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Who am I? the girl asked herself curiously. She got up from her comfortable bed with red covers and walked over to her dresser. She picked up her brush and ran it a couple of times through her red hair.

Her glossy green eyes diverted themselves towards the mirror that was in front of her. She looked at the girl staring back, frightened. _Scott, _the back of her mind screamed in a whisper. She shook the weird thought of the name out of her head quickly.

She returned her full attention to the reflection again. She squinted her eyes and reached out her hand to touch the mirror. _Who are you? _she asked herself in wonder. She shut her eyes hard in attempt to stop the tears from pouring down. Her arched eyebrows knitted together as she formed worry lines on her forehead. She felt her power emerge within her. Suddenly the mirror came crashing down all over the marble floor with a loud noise. She didn't even try to block the disturbing sound of the crash from her ears.

"I don't even know you," she said out loud to her broken reflection in the mirrors. She consciously stepped on the broken pieces of glass with hatred.

She tightened her silk red robe around her body as she heard a knock at the door. The door opened as a man came in and smiled. His smile faded as he saw glass all over the floor. "Jean, are you alright darling?" he asked.

"Don't call me that," she said quickly, referring to the word 'darling'.

He sighed as his expression saddened. "I know it's going to take time for your memory to come back to you. And I'm sorry if I'm making this harder than it already is," he said, trying to sound honest. "But I want you to know I'm always there for you. I'll always take care of you. Just like before, as your fiancé."

Jean sighed and folded her arms across her chest. She looked at his out-stretched hand for a moment. Then she let out her hand as she felt the cold touch of his skin against hers.

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Author's Note: Come on. Click that button in the left hand corner of your screen. You know you want to. No reviews, no next chapter.


	3. Chapter Three

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Disclaimer: I only wish. I only wish…

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Author's Note: Hey everyone. Just a thanks to my family for supporting me in every way. Thank you. If you haven't read Pinkchick's stories please do. I highly recommend them, they're great. And just a reminder to all those readers. REVIEW!! Please don't forget to do so because I feed off of review! Well, read, review, and ENJOY!!!

Reminder: I know you are all probably confused about the end of chapter two. But don't worry, it's supposed to be that way. You'll understand it later in the story. Just keep reading. Hint: The man with Jean is not Scott.

**Chapter Three**

Entry seven- "I can't sleep" :

I was laying in the tent trying to shut my eyes for the night. But I just couldn't. Do you know why? Because I could hear John and Bobby having another little argument of theirs. What it is with those two anyways? Kitty once told me that they've always been competitive with each other. But it's been getting worse lately. "Why?" I had asked. Kitty just giggled. She smiled and said, "Because of you silly."

Entry eight- Day "waiting in the X-jet" :

Bobby, John, and I are all in the X-jet at the moment. Can't you hear John playing with that lighter of his? Well, this has been one great adventure so far. Even though we don't get to experience the action inside Stryker's base, we experienced an almost deadly situation when the jet went down. Just sitting here and waiting for everyone to return safely gives me the goose bumps. I'm so worried about them. But I'm going to try and get my mind off of that for right now. Anyways, I can't stop thinking about yesterday. At Bobby's house, I…… we……actually kissed! But as you know that didn't last too long. About five seconds into our second kiss, I started draining his life force. Welcome back to reality Rogue.

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The water arose like a treacherous funnel cloud. A light appeared through the funnel of water and glowed with intensity. The fire swirled around and around and around. It outlined it's center in which it swirled around. 

The heat burned and kept burning. It pierced the inside as well as the outside. The water now lifted itself up with rage and swirled around the center.

The light blinded everything in it's path. The fire emanated heat towards the center and flew with wings. It emerged out of the covering and splattered the water back to it's rightful place.

The light gathered itself together and jolted itself into the fire. The fire returned to the center and disappeared from view.

The center was finally revealed. A woman with fiery red hair floated high over the water and let out a loud scream. A scream that echoed in the empty forests and mountains.

A scream of terror that nobody could hear… no one…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Scott screamed at the top of his lungs as his eyes were shut tightly behind his sunglasses. He kept screaming with his fists clenched tightly at his sides. The screaming wouldn't stop.

"STOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!" Scott shouted and trembled as his eyeballs moved behind his eyelids.

"You can run, but you can't hide," Scott said eerily with a laugh while Jean ran from him as her body trembled with fear. Jean tried to pull him back with her telekinesis but he was too powerful. And she was too weak. Her telepathy didn't help either, so she just kept running. 

She looked at the floor that resembled something from Alice in Wonderland._ It had black and white checkered tiles on one side, and a swirled red and green floor on the other. She looked at the walls that had pictures of her and a man holding hands. This man did not resemble the one chasing her. She looked so happy with him. But who was he?_

Suddenly she felt hands grip her around her waist tightly. "LET GO!" she screamed with fear and panic.

"Funny to think you could get rid of me," Scott said as he laughed with a tone of bad motives in his unusual voice.

She turned around to look at his face helplessly. He had released one hand from his hold around her and was taking his visor off. She suddenly felt burning, red, forceful light around her. She tried to hold it back, but it was too powerful for her.

She suddenly jolted back from the powerful force of the red beams. She started letting out sounds of pain.

"Stop it!!!" Scott screamed loudly as his eyes shot open. "Just stop. Yeah you. I'm talking to you." Scott looked straight ahead and then around the empty room. "Why? Huh? Just why? Huh? Jj-jj-jj-jj-jj-j-j-j-j!!!!"

Scott clutched his heart tightly. He wouldn't let go. It was too painful. His breathes started to get deeper and faster. 

"Jjjjjjjjjjj……"

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Rogue opened the refrigerator to look inside for something to eat to keep her occupied. She changed her mind and closed the refrigerator. She looked over to the kitchen counter to find hot and spicy barbeque chips. She took it in for a moment and then changed her mind. Instead, she took off her black glove and opened the freezer to grab a box of ice cream.

She opened the drawer to grab a spoon and then turned around to find Joe right in front of her. Rogue let out a small scream of surprise. 

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to scare you," Joe said with a smile that showed off his glittering white teeth. Rogue returned the smile and shrugged it off.

"It's ok," she said as she sat on the stool next to the kitchen counter. "Um… where's Bobby? Ah thought he was with you."

"Oh, he told me to wait in the living room with the other kids while he went to talk to this guy named Wolverine and a woman named Storm about me. You two seem to do that a lot," Joe said.

"We're really sorry. Ah mean, things are just a little weird raght now," Rogue said as she offered ice cream to Joe. He ignored her offer and looked at her closely. Rogue looked over to him weirdly. Then she noticed the glass of water on the table overflowing and saw water all over the kitchen table. She let out a small gasp.

"You just saw my power in action," Joe said as Rogue raced for a rag to clean it up. She stood quiet as she raced to get the water before it reached the floor. Joe just waved his hand to put it back in the cup, leaving a table with little droplets of water on it. Rogue set the rag down and looked over to him.

"Pretty cool power you got there," Rogue said appreciatively. 

"Oh it's not that great, really. Not compared to my other power," Joe said with a charming voice.

"Really? What would that be?" Rogue asked with interest.

"I can persuade someone without words. I'm quite the charmer," Joe said as he reached to peck her ungloved hand. She quickly scooted it away. "I'm not going to bite. I promise."

"Well, that's mah gift. Draining someone with the touch of mah skin," Rogue said as she looked away slightly.

"You call that a gift? I call that a curse," Joe said with a small laugh. "Don't you ever wish you could touch someone with your bare hands? Don't you ever wonder what would happen if you didn't have your 'gift'? Don't you ever _dream_ of something better?" Joe asked with curiosity.

"Well, ah guess……" Rogue said hesitantly, feeling pressured to say something more by his stare. Joe didn't say anything further as he reached out his hand for hers.

Rogue looked at it for what seemed like forever. She kept her brown eyes diverted towards his outstretched hand. She placed her black glove unto her hand. _Don't you ever wonder? Don't you ever dream?_ The voice echoed in her head like deadly sirens.

She didn't think once of Bobby or any of the other X-men. For the craving feeling of the removal of her curse allowed her hand to move forward, right into his.

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Logan slashed through the metal slicers with his claws, one by one. He jumped up and kicked the holograms of well trained computerized fighters towards the back wall. Ever since he found out about the danger room he couldn't stop coming here to release his rage and anger. He figured it wasn't better than real combat, but similar. And that was good enough.

While Logan fought off the weapons and the holograms easily, he couldn't stop thinking about Scott's sudden craziness. Not even the professor could help him. He was surprised the professor had told them that he hasn't blasted anything with his power yet. The professor also believed that Scott's mentality right now does not know he possesses special powers.

The professor and Storm are attempting to run some tests on him tomorrow. But now, they are trying to find a way to sedate him somehow. That did not go to well the normal way around. They could just strap him down, but feared his power would come out with anger.

Logan crossed his arms over each other and sheathed his claws back into the space in-between his knuckles. He hadn't worn off much energy today in the danger room because it was fairly easy for him. He had told Kurt to activate it on level five today, when he usually goes up to level eight or nine.

The projections and weapons deactivated and disappeared as Logan looked up to the control room where he saw Kurt fiddling with the controls. He seemed a little nervous. It was only a few days ago that they taught him how to use the controls, and he seemed ok with the idea. But today he looked nervous.

Logan exited the room and went over to the control room to see what was going on. "Unless you're planning on giving another round in the danger room Elf, I suggest you can leave now," Logan said smugly.

"Oh, right," Kurt said nicely as he turned off the controls and shifted uneasily in his position.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Logan asked as Kurt sighed and looked at him with his yellow eyes.

He bent down to pick up a bouquet of roses. He held them to his chest. Logan raised an eyebrow at him with confusion. "Zey are for Ororo," Kurt said with a smile at the mention of her name.

Logan's expression lightened up a bit as he sighed. "Look Elf, do what you have to," Logan said as he patted him on the back and left the room.

"Thanks for za varming advice Logan," Kurt said as he looked at the roses intently. He realized that he had to do it sooner or later. And it was sooner.

************************************************************

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Jean screamed at the top of her lungs as she jolted upright in her sitting position on the comfortable couch.

Suddenly the man walked into the room in a rush. "Are you alright Sweetie?"

Jean rolled her eyes when he said 'Sweetie'. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just a bad dream," she said quickly as he smiled at her and came over with a bottle of champagne and two glass cups in his hands.

"You look beautiful, as usual," he said with a smile as he looked at her in the knee length, tight, strapless, red dress he bought for her. He poured champagne in the glass cups and handed one to her. He raised his cup in the air and said, "To us."

Jean slowly raised it and tapped it lightly with his. She took a sip and set it down on the table. She stared at it for a while with a blank expression.

"Jean," he said turning her face to him with his fingertips on her chin. "We used to love each other so much. We had a wonderful life. Until the flood."

"I don't understand," Jean started. "You were the only person in my life?"

"Just you and I Darling," he said as Jean rubbed her lips together. "You died trying to save me. Somehow, you were brought back to life. With no memory however. It's like being born again."

"This was our home?" she asked as he caressed her face.

"It's everything I can give you," he said looking around at the big house. "When I came back to Alkali Lake to sort my thoughts out, having a little hope of finding you still alive, I brought you back here after finding you unconscious in the lake. Lucky I got there in time."

"Yeah. Lucky," Jean said as she turned to face him. He scooted in closer for a kiss. She backed away a little at first then scooted closer. In seconds, there lips emerged together.

__

Scott, the back of her mind screamed. Jean knitted her eyebrows and backed away quickly. She shook the confusing thought away and got up from the couch. She sighed and walked away without looking back. "Good night."

************************************************************

Professor Xavier turned up the volume of the television as Storm, Logan, Kurt, and Bobby entered the room. The speakers boomed with the voice of the seven o'clock news on channel seven.

Everyone watched intently as the president sat at his desk and started speaking.

"My fellow Americans," the president addressed the nation. "I am here today to reassure the nation of the changes in our society. Mutants are merely…"

Suddenly the president was cut off by the sound of a gunshot. Everyone looked at the screen in surprise and sudden shock as the screen went blue with words that read "stand by" on it.

The room echoed with silence except for Kurt's voice repeating, "Mein Gott. Mein Gott."

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Author's Note: Review now, or forever hold your peace! 


	4. Chapter Four

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Disclaimer: Don't own them. I only wish.

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Author's Note: Look back on last chapters. Thanks to all my readers out there. Enjoy! Read and REVIEW! NO REVIEWS, NO NEXT CHAPTER!!!

**Chapter 4**

Ororo walked into her room and went over to her bed. She spread her slender body over the middle of her cloud covers and took a deep breath. She had been working all day with Professor Xavier on trying to find some way to sedate Scott so that they could run tests on him.

She closed her eyes tightly to try and hold back the tears that wanted to pour down. Their only hope for a better life, the president, was dead. Her best friend was dead, and her other friend was going crazy. 

"Guten taug," Kurt said as he stood at the doorway with a warm presence.

Storm was more than happy to see him. "Come in," she said as she motioned for Kurt to come closer. His hands suddenly slipped out from behind his back with red roses clutched to them. He handed them to her as she received them and gave him an appreciative smile. "Thank you. They're beautiful."

"Yes, zey reminded me of you," Kurt said as he sat on the edge of the bed next to her. He was relieved that she hadn't rejected them and told him how he could think of romance at a time like this. But the fear of that washed away from him quickly when it didn't happen. He turned to look at her face. 

"Kurt, are these from my garden?" Ororo asked as Kurt sat quiet. She knew they were but just smiled and shrugged it off. She had not yet told him not to mess with her plants, even though he did it for all the right reasons. She turned to look directly at Kurt's intriguing yellow eyes. His warmth and kindness gave her every reason to melt in his arms. But she held back.

"Your garden is lovely," Kurt said. 

"It's my favorite place in the world," Storm said as she looked away a little before continuing. "There, I feel like…" she paused for a moment. "I feel like no one's judging me. No one's watching me. I feel warmth and happiness with myself. The plants and sunshine welcome the part of me that without it, I would be empty."

"Your mutant ability ja?" Kurt finished for her as she nodded. "But Storm, there vas someone vatching you. Someone who appreciates you no matter vhat." Ororo looked at him intently as he looked above him to indicate the high Heavens.

Storm's brown eyes glistened as Kurt was captivated with them. He reached out his three-fingered hand to trace her lips softly. Before she knew it, their lips were entangled in each other's with passion. Kurt's fingers ran through her white locks as he longed for more.

The sky outside turned into dark clouds as the ground rumbled lightly with thunder. Storm's desire arose as well as her power. That was their first kiss, but she knew it wouldn't be their last. Her hands slid away from around his neck as she looked at his face and broke away from the kiss. "I have to get going. Professor needs me in the lower levels with Scott. We're finally going to run some tests on him."

Kurt took her hand and kissed it lightly. He nodded with a smile and exited the room slowly. "Good night… my love."

"Good night," Storm said sweetly as Kurt left the door slightly open. Storm smiled and got up from her bed. She walked over to her window to close it because of the chill she felt. When she turned around she felt something huge and hard hit her legs with force that sent her to the ground. She looked down to see a heavy dresser pressed hard on the bottom of her legs. 

She couldn't move her legs nor her arm that landed behind her back. It had twisted behind her and felt even worse with her weight pressed against it. She pulled her right arm from under her as she lay there in pain and squeezed her eyes shut to try and help stop the pain. But her eyes opened wide as she heard low growls coming from nearby in the room. She didn't even have to look up to know who it was. Sabretooth.

She could hear his footsteps coming closer to her after he had shut the door lightly, so no one would hear. He bent down towards her body and hovered over it. He came up closer to her face as his growls could be heard in her ear. 

Her low breaths were full of fear. "I haven't forgotten about you," he whispered in her ear with low growls as the words sent goose bumps up and down her spine. 

Storm's eyes suddenly glazed over as her head titled back slightly and lightning started outside. Sabretooth knew what she was about to do and didn't want to go through that again. So he grabbed her right arm and held it tightly as her eyes went back to their normal state. He twisted it and then forced it behind her back.

She didn't scream, nor did she mutter a word. She knew that was exactly what Sabretooth wanted. To see suffering and struggle.

Storm tried desperately to move her legs but they were motionless. She tried to use the other arm to punch Sabretooth instead. She aimed it towards his hairy face as it jolted back away from her. Sabretooth was taken aback for a second, but just for that one second. Storm pushed back the pain that was throbbing in her arm and legs, and knew that she had to get up now. 

She pulled the dresser off her legs desperately with one hand and tried to use her powers to fly. But as soon as she was about to try, she heard a voice that distracted her.

"Ororo?" Kurt's voice boomed from the hall as he knocked on the locked door. "Is everything alright? I thought you vere supposed to be vith za Professor?"

Suddenly Sabretooth grabbed her neck from behind, causing her body to be in a standing position. He pulled on it fiercely, grabbing her wrists behind her with his free hand. His grip was tight and harsh as he lowered his head to her. "Tell your boyfriend to leave."

Ororo didn't move her mouth as she choked on Sabretooth's hold. Sabretooth loosened his grip slightly, just enough for her to speak. "Everything's fine. I'll talk to you later," Ororo called back forcefully, trying to make her voice less shaky. Then Sabretooth tightened his grip on her throat again. But even harder this time. 

When he let go after ten seconds, Storm tried to catch her breath as she fell to the floor. Sabretooth picked her up over his shoulders and opened the window. He would have usually broken through the glass, but he didn't want all the X-men to gain up on him.

The last time that happened, he was sent flying through the Statue of Liberty and into a boat. He had Wolverine and Cyclops to thank for that. They'll get what's coming to them. Soon enough.

Storm let out sounds of coughing. Sabretooth's grip around her body on his shoulders was tight. Her arm was limp and her throat was recovering. She just watched the moving ground in front of her eyes. 

__

How did he get into the mansion? How did he get past the security systems? How would he know where my room was? Storm's mind screamed with questions as she tried to contact the professor through her mind. 

But before she could do so, she felt her body fall into something. Something small and tight. Storm saw Sabretooth's satisfied face as he shut the top of the small place above her head. 

"No! STOP! Get me out of HERE!!" Storm screamed as she stayed in the corner trying to ignore the walls that were closing in on her. How would he know she was claustrophobic? 

"SOMEBODY HELP!!!"

************************************************************

"Like an eagle with red and gold feathers," Scott murmured to himself as he held his knees to his chest. "No, why?" Scott closed his eyes and tried not to remember. Trying didn't work.

__

Jean's wrists were cuffed tightly to metal chains that dug deep into her skin. She bent her head down helplessly and choked on small sobs. 

"Shut up!" Scott exclaimed with cruelness. "Just shut up! You. You possess too much power. For that, we have to kill you. And I'm going to enjoy doing it too."

"No," Jean cried. "Please." She suddenly felt a fist go straight at her stomach, then at her face. She felt the blood drip down to her mouth and tasted it's salt painfully.

Scott took a knife out of his pocket and flung it at Jean's shoulder. She cried out in pain, not able to do anything. She didn't even attempt to use her power. She didn't feel like she possessed it anymore. She felt empty.

The door slammed open as Storm, Logan, Kurt, Bobby, and Rogue walked in. Storm raised her arms and summoned upon storm clouds. Lightning heaved over Jean's head and hit her, sending electric shock through her body.

__

She screamed at the top of her lungs. Then Wolverine sheathed his claws and aimed them towards her face while Nightcrawler put in a kick. Bobby froze her legs and arms as she shivered with coldness. Her arms and legs began to feel numb. She saw Rogue approaching her with bare hands. Then everything started turning black.

Before she closed her eyes completely, all she saw was Scott's face. She dropped her head forward and tried to get rid of the pain. She kept trying, but it was useless. Her breathing descended and her heart shut down.

"NO!" Scott exclaimed as he wiped the sweat from his face. "Stop it!!!"

"J-j-j," he murmured slowly under his breath and started trembling with fear.

************************************************************

Jean's eyes popped open as she started trembling with fear. She sat up in her bed as her eyes moved around the room in paranoia. She brought her knees to her chest and clutched her fast beating heart.

She looked outside her window into the forest and decided to take a walk. She flipped the covers off her trembling body and opened her closet. She put on a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans on and headed out the door quietly.

She started her trail into the forest. She felt a sudden rush of emptiness inside and her body started burning. "Who am I?" she asked aloud as tears welled up in her eyes. Her pace sped up and her steps started moving more rapidly on the forest ground. Her walking became running. 

She didn't stop running. She just kept going and going. She just ran straight ahead and allowed tears to come down rapidly. Her sobs were more intense now and she kept asking herself, "Who am I?"

When she came to a pond with a little waterfall at the end of the forest she fell to the ground. She buried her face in her hands and sat on her knees. "WHO AM I?!?" she shouted as the mini waterfall started squirting in all directions. Jean looked up to realize she had caused that with her powers. But she didn't care.

She got up and lifted her arm to rip out a tree telekinetically from the ground. She held the tree with her mind effortlessly and swung it back towards the other trees. Then she lifted a boulder, that was to the side of the pond, with her mind. She smashed it into the water ragingly. She picked up a broken tree branch with her bare hands and swung it in all directions in the air. She threw it into the air and caught it with one hand.

Her face showed satisfaction as she dropped the branch on the floor. The forest echoed with silence. Only the sound of the branch dropping to the floor could be heard.

************************************************************

Magneto motioned for John to come closer to what he was staring at intently. John walked over slowly as his eyes twinkled with delight. "These… are for me?" he asked not believing what Magneto has offered him.

"Yes," Magneto said. "But there is one thing I need to know."

"What?" 

"You cannot allow any of your past relationships to stop you from anything," Magneto said. John just looked at him and nodded quickly. "Good then."

Magneto slightly smiled and gave Pyro the tanks slowly. Pyro embraced them with the feeling of power. Absolute power.

"Pyro," Magneto said before Pyro left the room. "I just wanted to inform you that Jean Grey died almost two weeks ago at Alkali Lake."

Pyro just shrugged and smiled. "Great. One less person to worry about."

************************************************************

Professor Xavier opened the door to where Scott was staying in one of the lower level rooms. He breathed in deeply and knew that he had to watch Scott going crazy again. He expected screaming and jumping and murmuring non-understandable things, but that's exactly what he didn't receive.

Scott was sitting on one of the chairs with his head straight forward. He couldn't see if his eyes were blinking, squinting, or doing anything behind his glasses. He sat up with his broad back erected and his whole body stiff like a statue's.

"Scott?" Professor asked curiously to see if he would respond. Maybe he would be able to enter his mind now. He strolled up beside Scott with his wheelchair, and still no movement. He put his hands close to his temples, yet not touching.

Professor Xavier closed his eyes. "Hey, just wanted to tell ya I bought a pack of beer. I'll drink it when all the kids are asleep," Logan said with a smirk and a gruff expression.

Professor Xavier ignored his comment and interruption and continued with his job. Logan just stood there watching intently. 

Professor Xavier closed his eyes and tried to enter Scott's mind. He searched and searched with all his energy. But nothing came up. Something had pushed him back. Something more powerful than he could imagine. But Professor Xavier managed to retrieve one thing from Scott's mind.

"He's seems to be in a state of shock," Professor Xavier said.

"State of shock?"

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Author's Note: REVIEW! You know you want to! Now click that button in the left hand corner of the screen. Come on…… 


	5. Chapter Five

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Disclaimer: I only dream. Enough said.

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Author's Note: Look back on other chapters. Thanks to all my readers. Go read Pinkchick's stories. And don't forget to review. Or you won't be reading the next chapter. Read, review, and ENJOY!!!

**Chapter 5**

"A MUTANT DID THIS!!!" a person in the mob of people yelled. 

"STOP THEM NOW!!" another shouted with arrogance.

"TERRORISTS IN OUR COUNTRY!!!" came a voice from the crowd.

"IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!!!" a similar sound full of words that dripped with hatred yelled. 

A crowd of people held up poster boards that were held on wooden sticks. They had words written in dripping red marker as a sign of blood and hatred. Words that spoke of rage and anger. Words that showed pure fear. 

"After the assassination of the president on the news, a crowd of protesters stand outside the white house in rage. They argue that no ordinary person could have gotten past the security and secret service," the newscaster said to the camera in front of him. "Why don't we have a talk with one of them." The newscaster walked over to a woman in the crowd who was yelling with rage. "So ma'am, give us your opinion on this sudden and tragic event."

"I'm telling you it's those mutants behind it all," the woman said with her index finger pointed mockingly at the newscaster. "They live secret lives for a reason. They are planning to dominate this world. Starting with the United States by killing our leader."

"Do you have anything to say about this, Sir?" the newscaster said as he pointed his microphone to another man.

"Indeed. These mutants are a threat to our society. They are trouble. They have been planning this all along. And who knows what their next plan of action is after their first one is accomplished."

"This war," another man spoke from behind as he approached closer. "Our side will win, that's for sure. The good side always wins."

The dark rain clouds above started to drop heavy drops of rain to the still ground of the earth. The dirt smelled of moist and thunder rumbled lightly under the earth. Everyone's signs were wet as the words started to wear away. Everyone in the crowd began to get soaked as the drops began to get heavier and heavier. 

The material of the boards were limp and soggy. The people were still holding them up with rage and anger. Their voices still boomed in the damp air.

************************************************************

Sabretooth stood outside the small box in the ground and listened to her screams until they slightly subsided. His face showed a satisfied look as he headed back to the inside of the mansion.

"I'll be back," he whispered with an eerie and raspy voice. "As soon as I finish off the rest of them."

Sabretooth walked back towards her room and went through her window. He left it open as he stood there with his seven feet of height and heard Kurt's voice. 

"Storm," Kurt said softly from outside the door. "Can I come in?" When she answered in silence he knew she probably didn't mind. So he put his hand on the doorknob to open the door but it was locked.

Her voice had sounded unusual. She said she would talk to him later, but he still waited outside her door because of the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. It had been ten minutes since he had heard her voice and she was not out yet to meet the professor in the lower levels. He knew he was over reacting, but he had a bad feeling.

He teleported inside to feel a hard punch across his face. He shook his head and then turned his attention towards the tall man. He teleported from his view and appeared behind him with a kick in his back. This made Sabretooth jolt forward then turn around to pick Kurt up by his neck and throw him across the room. He slammed into Storm's closet and fell to the ground.

"Vhere is she?!?" Kurt questioned in anger, but to no avail. The large man growled as he picked up an already strewn dresser and held it over his head to throw it at Kurt.

The dresser came his way and he quickly teleported away and into her bathroom. Sabretooth marched over to the bathroom as he was blinded by a shower curtain with clouds on it. He growled loudly as Kurt tumbled in the air and kicked him towards the wall. 

"VHERE IS SHE?!?!?!?!" Kurt practically screamed as Sabretooth pulled the shower curtain off of himself and growled in rage at Nightcrawler. He reached out to grab him fiercely and succeeded in doing so. 

Just as he did, Kurt quickly teleported them both away, leaving an empty silence in Storm's room.

************************************************************

Logan walked out of the infirmary with a gruff expression on his hairy, unshaven face. His muscles seeped through his tight leather jacket as he waited until Professor Xavier was done with the results of what the hell was wrong with the eccentric boy.

This was very unusual and made Logan wonder. Scott didn't like to show much emotion and he shared the same trait with him. But he could guarantee that Scott wasn't really crazy inside. Logan had to shake his head with a smirk on his face when he remembered a precious moment in time. A few minutes ago when he punched Scott right in the jaw. 

Scott hadn't done anything. He hadn't backed away, fought back, let out a sound, or mutter a word. Now Logan knew something was very wrong. First he was crazy, then he was in shock, and now he won't even respond to Logan's actions.

Logan stopped as he sniffed something soaking through the air. The smell of brimstone. The sound of footsteps in a brawl of some kind of fighting. Growls that sounded familiar. 

He unconsciously sheathed his claws and jogged lightly to the end of the dim blue hall. He turned the corner to find Nightcrawler against a wall, worn out, and Sabretooth standing facing forward. Sabretooth immediately sensed Logan and turned around to punch him in the face and stomach.

Logan aimed his claws at Sabretooth's chest as Sabretooth threw Logan towards Kurt. Logan ran over to Sabretooth and slammed his claws into his chest. "You're not welcome here!" Logan growled loudly.

Sabretooth recovered quickly. He cursed in his mind at the place he was teleported to. The former student that was with Magneto now hadn't told him anything about this place. He hadn't said much about the blue boy either.

No matter what though, he was going to finish this.

************************************************************

__

Jean wrapped her arms around the man with dark hair. He was holding her extremely close to him. He ran his fingers through her hair and kissed the side of her cheek.

"I'd never let anything happen to you," the man said as Jean backed away slightly, hand in his. "I would never do anything to sabotage this wonderful life that we have."

"I know Honey," Jean said softly as she scooted closer and touched his lips softly at first, then in a passionate embrace. She brushed her fingers against the side of his face and breathed into his nostrils. "I love you."

"I love you too," the man said as he pulled her closer only to be entangled in each other's lips again.

************************************************************ 

Professor Xavier looked at the quick results of Scott's tests in his hands. Everything appeared to be…… normal. He was happy that nothing seemed to be wrong, but he was disappointed because he didn't know how to help and what was next. Scott was like his own son. Ever since the first time he took him in and nourished him, he could never let go of that relationship. Things seemed to be falling apart now. He looked back at Scott and knew that he would never give up. They were going to find out what was wrong if it was the last thing they did.

Professor's Xavier's mind drifted off in that one second with a happy memory. Scott and Jean were sitting at the kitchen table eating cereal. Professor Xavier had strolled in and watched the two fifteen-year olds having a friendly breakfast. He noticed that they had been eyeing each other when he walked in but he decided not to interfere with their thoughts.

He asked Jean to pass him the cereal and she nodded politely. She whispered something to Scott and he nodded. Before Professor Xavier could figure out what they were whispering about he felt a cold bowl of milk on his face. "Jean!" he exclaimed with a slight laugh at the teenagers' immaturity. "Don't do that again."

"Sorry Professor," Jean said between laughs that were subsiding between her and Scott. Professor held up the gallon of milk and leaned towards Scott. He poured the milk over his brown head and let out a small laugh as Jean was laughing hysterically. 

"Do the whole gallon next time," Professor said, surprised at his actions. He didn't know what had gotten into him. It seemed as if whenever he was around these students that he loved so much he would join them no matter what they were doing. No matter how silly.

When Storm walked in the room, she lifted Scott's bowl of milk with wind and it landed in Jean's face. "You forgot Jean, Professor," she said as a food fight broken out in the kitchen between the four. That was a little memory, but also an unforgettable one too.

Professor X snapped back into reality and frowned. He hated seeing Scott in such a state of well being. He tried to figure out what was going on but his thoughts were interrupted by an image in his head. Something was happening outside of the infirmary, in the lower levels.

"Sabretooth," Professor Xavier said as he decided to walk out there and rid the mansion of the invader.

He strolled in his wheelchair towards the door when he paused. He felt a rush of liveliness come to him from Scott. Was he back to reality?

"Jjj," Scott muttered slowly and then popped his eyes open with a gasp. "JEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!"

"JEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!" he exclaimed, moving from his stiff position as his body started trembling rapidly. He clutched his heart tightly and hopped off his uncomfortable and cold seat.

Professor Xavier closed his eyes at the sound of her name. He turned around with a pleasant face wanting to embrace his son-like-figure in a hug. "Scott!" Professor Xavier said calmly but voice filled with joy.

"We have to…… Professor," Scott said as he bent down on his knees next to Professor Xavier's wheelchair. He knelt his head down on his knee and let out loud and intense breaths.

"It's alright Scott," Professor Xavier said as he put his hand on Scott's hair. "It's alright."

"No it's not Professor!" Scott exclaimed as he looked up at the bald man. "We have to save her. We have to help her."

"Help who Scott?" Professor Xavier asked not wanting to hear the answer because of fear of what to tell him.

"Jean."

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__

Jean looked up from the floor to see Scott, her arch nemesis, standing across the room staring with pleasure at her weakness. She laid her head back down in surrender. She was so weak. What was she supposed to do with this cruel man? 

"Why are you doing this?" Jean asked with a low voice that was almost a whisper. 

"Shut up! You possess too much power. For that, I have to kill you," Scott said evilly followed by a laugh. "And I love it!"

"STOP IT!" Jean yelled as she got up forcefully from the ground and stood with a slight limp in her leg. But her poise changed because of the anger and fury she held inside. She now stood with less insecurity and full feeling of ultimate control. "I never die. I live forever. I am reborn over and over again."

Scott twisted the side of his visor to let out a strong red beam. Jean jolted back a little for one second. Scott couldn't believe his eyes. His torture had been going so well up until now. 

"I am the Phoenix," Jean said raising her voice with confidence now. "You can't kill me."

"Wha…"

"But I can kill you," Jean exclaimed as she raised herself in the air and through the roof of the dreadful prison like room. Fire escaped her in the shape of the bird as it darted towards Scott. The feathers were like those of an eagle, with fire that was of red and gold. The heat emanated from her body as she felt power. Absolute power.

__

She watched the ash fall to the ground as she started laughing with an eerie voice. She felt pure evil. She felt so powerful. She finally felt in control. She knew this is what she wanted. She didn't hesitate for one second before choosing her words.

"You're right. I do possess power," she spoke to the ash on the ground. "That's the reason of my existence. To kill. And I love it!!!"

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Magneto watched the protest outside the white house on his television screen with no shock or amazement. He knew that's how people would react. He just knew, unlike his old time friend, Charles Xavier.

He had watched the news with the president two weeks ago after Alkali Lake had happened. A twinge of fear of being wrong about people accepting them had crept into him somehow. But he didn't know how it could have. It was so clear to him now. More than ever, and it always has been.

Humans are the enemies. Mutants will never be accepted for people always fear something that is unlike them. They reject it and fight against it and somehow blame everything bad that's happening on them. That is why he was there. To defend his kind and make it a better place for them to live in. Instead of being isolated from the world simply because of people's arrogance.

Magneto turned the television off with his magnetic force against the buttons. He turned to Mystique. "They are never going to accept us. There had never been a chance of accepting us," Magneto said to the scaly, blue woman that had her yellow eyes full of understanding towards his words.

"Eric," she spoke, her voice in an unusual echoed tone. "Now _they_ are after us too."

Mystique couldn't even get herself to utter the name of the word she referred to as _they. _She hated humans, she always has. That is why she is with Magneto. He understands the cruelty of the world, unlike Xavier who thinks they actually understand the word peace.

"Yes my dear," he said with a slight frown. He knew exactly what he was saying and doing and he knew it was right. First he attempted to turn all humans into mutants. Then, he tried to kill all humans through Charles. None of that worked, and now the war is growing intense. Now he was fighting on stopping them by force and nothing was going to get in his way. Not even the X-men. "The only way to stop them from killing us, is to kill them." 

************************************************************

__

She leaned in closer just to take in the sweet scent of his cologne. She caressed his cheek softly as he bent her head back on the sofa. "I love you Jean."

Jean smiled and hugged him warmly, close to her body. "I love you too Jason."

"I made a commitment to stay with you and I always will," Jason said. "No matter what."

"You're my life," Jean said to him as she rested her head on his chest and shoulder.

"And you're my life. More than you know Baby," Jason said. "You are the only family that I've got. My father did love me but grew angry at me for being engaged to a mutant. But I told him you were just like everyone else."

"I've only seen Mr. Stryker in pictures," Jean said with glossy eyes. "I would've really liked to meet him. Why did he have to leave? I don't bite."

"I know Sweetie Pie," Jason said as he engaged her in another kiss. "That's why I'm here. To accept you for who you are, when everyone else doesn't."

"Everyone else is my enemy," Jean said as she snuggled up closer to him. "I love you."

"I love you too," Jason said as he pecked her red lips.

Jean darted her eyes open as they filled up with tears. Jason walked in the room to check on her. "Jean? Where were you half an hour ago?"

"Oh, I was in the woods," Jean said. "Working off some stress."

"Oh alright," Jason said as his green eye and blue eye squinted when he smiled. "I love you Jean."

"I……" Jean paused at the sound of that from his mouth. She's been having dreams about their past together and she was happy she was getting her memory back, but it felt weird. She had a bad feeling in her stomach. So she just shrugged off his comment and gave him a half smile. 

"What is it?"

"Call me Phoenix."

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Author's Note: Review! Review! You know the drill. Click that button in the left hand corner of the screen. Do it! Please!?!?!


	6. Chapter Six

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Disclaimer: Don't own them. I only fantasize.

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Author's Note: Love all of the readers out there. Please feel free to make any suggestions about the story and ask any questions. Review and ENJOY!!! 

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**Chapter 6**

"Sir," an unidentified man from the crowd spoke. He wore an all black ensemble with a large gun in his hand. The gun was not one that is seen by people everyday. A weapon of secret, a place of secret. "When will the process begin?"

"When I say so!" Joe exclaimed to the man with the patch that identified him as a member of the team. The patch that read FoH. It stood for 'Friends of Humanity'. They are a mutant hate group who take in mutants for experiments, and for killing them. They believe that mutants should not live in this world and they are a threat to all of humanity. And now they had a leader who believed it and hated them even more and was the one who is going to solve the mutant problem. 

Joe held up a disk in his hand that read 'X-men: PRIVATE'. "In order to defeat your enemy, you have to _know_ your enemy. That's what my father always told me," Joe whispered to himself as he diverted his attention back to his followers. "Did you take the food to the worthless trash?" He asked as he stood tall next to the other men. His well-built body gave him permission to run the operations around here, despite his age. 

"Yes, Sir," another man spoke with pride as he adjusted his badge.

"Good," Joe said evilly. "Don't want them to die of starvation now, do we?" Joe's beautiful charm on Rogue had worked, and now he would have one of the X-men to watch the beginning of a beautiful world. "Did you contact the vice president?"

"We arranged a meeting for later today," one voice came from the crowd. "Everything's going according to plan."

Joe turned his back towards them and headed down the stairs at the end of the small room with electronic devices lying in every corner. He entered the gray room where the mutants were locked behind specially made cells that were plastered against the walls next to each other, where they could not see who was next to them in the cells, but across from them. "Don't worry about anything," Joe spoke with an annoying tone. "You should be thanking me."

Rogue sat in one of the boxed areas surrounded by cells with her head facing the wall in front of her and her side towards the front.

"Hey Rogue," Joe said as he neared the cell. "How are we doing?"

Rogue didn't look into his eyes. She couldn't get herself to. How could she have been so stupid? How would she have known he was going to knock her out with a special weapon and take her to a secret place and lock her up? How would she have known? How could she have been so stupid and not even think about the X-men, which was her family, and Bobby? Just how? She cursed herself in her mind for her stupidity. She cursed herself for her wanting and desire to be rid of her powers that led her to this instantaneous action in the first place.   


"Come on Rogue," Joe said trying to be persuasive. "I told you I could cure you and I'm going to. I really am. This cell is just so the others won't wonder why you're being treated differently."

Rogue rolled her eyes and turned her head away. She didn't know what Joe had planned but she knew she was idiotic to want to get rid of her curse so bad that she'd go as far as this to do it. She hadn't even blinked once or thought twice when Joe had told her of this cure he'd found. She knew he was nothing but trouble now, but then his voice had sounded so persuading and welcoming.

But she had ended up a locked up prisoner, with specialized chains on her ankles to stop her from contacting Professor X, when the X-men needed her. When she needed them. The only place that accepted her and took her in was now gone from her reach, all because of her. She was her own worst enemy.

Joe squinted his eyes at her and spoke once more before he left. His last words still lingered in her ears. _"I am going to cure you. You won't hate me for long."_

Now she realized that if he ever did cure her, the X-men would no longer exist in her life. And she knew that's exactly what she didn't want. She realized now how scared she was of who she would be without her powers after all that's happened in her life. 

But why did she have to realize it now?

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Professor looked at Scott with the weirdest look he has ever given the young man. He blinked twice to recover from the slight shock of what he was saying. He sensed Scott's emotions. They were full of fear, of love. He knew that Scott was following his instincts but he didn't know if they were the right ones. Maybe he had sensed Jean's presence every now and then, but he did not know what they were exactly. He didn't know if she was alive and how and where.

"Scott," Professor began remembering his relief that Scott was alright. "I have no doubt that you are merely trying to…" 

"Professor," Scott said in his usual leadership, serious, and mono-toned voice. "I'm asking you to trust me on this. I know what I'm doing."

Professor Xavier slightly pursed his lips and knitted his eyebrows. He closed his eyes for a second in time and saw familiar images in his head. An image of the milk going onto Scott's head, milk going onto Jean's face from Storm, and Jean's sweet laughter in his head echoed continuously. He knew that he would have never behaved that way. Except with them at that one very moment. They always made him do things he would never do or wasn't sure of doing. But it felt right with them. He knew if Scott could make him act silly, he could make him do something that could end up a disaster. Professor knew it was out of love and trust.

He sighed and nodded. His head shook slightly and immediately. Suddenly that noise in his head interrupted him once again. "Oh no. Sabretooth," Professor Xavier said quickly as Scott followed his wheelchair to exit the infirmary.

"Sabretooth?" Scott asked with curiosity. "Where is he?"

"In the danger room." 

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Sabretooth scratched his long fingernails across Logan's face, along with his knuckles. Logan shook his head slightly and recovered quickly from Sabretooth's rough hands. They had been fighting without a rest in between punches, scratches, kicks, constant choking, bones cracking, healing, and throwing each other across rooms.

Logan looked around quickly and realized Kurt was no where to be found. He also realized they were heading towards the danger room. Sabretooth seemed to be heading in that direction on purpose. 

Suddenly Sabretooth threw him to the danger room controls without the slightest effort. Logan activated the doors to open as he tumbled inside but rolled up quickly.

Sabretooth smiled with satisfaction. Pyro had told him about this place. He figured it was somewhere that would help with his fight against Logan. Make it easier on him. It was the perfect place to finish Logan off.

He plunged towards Logan with a loud growl and grabbed his neck with his hand from the back. He squeezed his long, black fingernails into it and pulled on it until Logan punched him in his stomach and turned around to plunge his unsheathed claws in Sabretooth's chest.

Sabretooth's arms flew back in slight pain but he recovered quickly because of his healing factor. He threw Logan towards one sharp equipment in the corner of the round room as it started moving. The sharp pointed edges started heading towards Logan from both sides. He tried to move forward but there seemed to be another set coming closer also.

Logan let out a loud, gruff growl and threw his adamantium claws into the wall behind him. He used them to lift himself with full force on top of the large walls that were activated to come towards him. His feet were brought together when the two walls collided and the sharp spikes combined together.

Logan jumped forward towards Sabretooth's tall body and scratched his claws across his face. Sabretooth jolted back and then popped his head into Logan to cause their foreheads to collide.

Logan paused for one slight second as did Sabretooth when the lights slightly faded and then came back on again. The sound of the machines starting erupting in a loud echo.

Logan ducked his head as he spotted a large, razor sharp clipper come out of the walls and towards him. He turned around to see Sabretooth strewn across the room by the back of the clipper.

Logan and Sabretooth were in a brawl again when Sabretooth regained his strength again in no time. 

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Kurt teleported up to the danger room area where the controls were. He had to stop this. Stop this violence in his own home. His mind raced with thoughts of what could have happened to Storm. What if she was hurt, or worse? He tried to get his mind to stop thinking bad thoughts about her. He had to focus on stopping Sabretooth and Logan from doing anymore damage.

He messed with the controls slightly when he suddenly heard something click. Had he pressed something wrong on accident? He looked down at the controls and noticed what button he pressed. Oh no, he had done something wrong.

He looked down into the room to see Sabretooth throwing Logan right towards the three unusual guns coming out from the walls of the room and the metal choppers coming from the ceiling that he had activated. Kurt's hands searched for a way to stop this. He was still learning with the controls, he wasn't an expert. Logan could survive this though, couldn't he?

Kurt glanced to where Logan was and he saw that Logan was trapped. Logan had dodged the guns but he couldn't do it for long because the guns kept on shooting beams from them and the metal choppers were coming down on him. Logan couldn't roll under them either because there were guns coming from the floors now.

"Mein Gott," Kurt said with fear. He looked over at a large red button and pressed it. But that had activated metal ropes to come out and hold a tight grip on Sabretooth. Kurt was afraid to press another button but he knew time was running out. He searched the controls with his yellow eyes quickly, and a green switch drew his attention to it. He had remembered Scott saying something very important about that button. He quickly peered down at Logan who was an inch away from turning into bits and pieces all over the hard floor. 

He reached out his hand to touch the switch. . .

"DON'T!!!" Scott yelled as he ran up to Kurt and quickly pressed another button to deactivate the machinery. Kurt sighed at the sight of Scott. He was so relieved Scott had come in time before he had done something really stupid.

"Danke," Kurt said to Scott with relief and gratitude. Thankfully Scott was out of the infirmary and looking healthy. Wait, how did he get out? "SCOTT!!! How did you……"

"I'll explain later," Scott said as he turned to the professor. Professor Xavier raised his hands towards his temples in concentration. Suddenly, Kurt noticed Sabretooth just standing there, blinking every ten seconds. He turned to the professor.

Professor Xavier turned to Kurt and Scott abruptly after taking his hands away from his temples. "Storm is in her garden, trapped in a tight area."

"Oh no, Storm's claustrophobic," Scott began as Kurt's eyes widened. "We need to……" Before Scott could finish his sentence he heard a _bamf, _leaving with only the smell of brimstone in the air.

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"Hitler," Joe started as he turned to the vice president behind his metal desk. "Intelligent man."

"He believed in a dominant race and he rid himself of those who did not meet the qualifications," the vice president said in a low voice. 

"Precisely," Joe said as he leaned back in his chair. 

"Your men did a perfect job with the assassination of the president."

"And now you can run the operations around here with a slightly different point of view than our dead, naïve, and former president," Joe said as he shook his head in satisfaction. He didn't like the president's view on the mutant phenomenon one bit. And he knew he would not allow him to live to make peace with them when they were obviously not worth living. 

Joe grabbed the disk that had the words 'X-men: PRIVATE' off of his desk. He handed it to the vice president and he gladly received it from him. Joe smiled and nodded his head as he held out his hand for a handshake.

"Welcome to the winning side of this war, Mr. President."

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"Sweetie," Jason said as he grabbed a pill off of his dresser and swallowed with a gulp of water. "We have company."

Jean eyed him from the corner of her glistening eyes. She swallowed hard and nodded slightly as she looked out the window. She saw a black jet approaching the surface of the sand on the tiny island they were on. The island out in the deep blue sea, where no one but them existed on. Jean didn't know where it was located and she knew no one else knew either. All she knew was it was south of the Atlantic Ocean.

Jean turned her face directly towards his and walked passed him, slightly brushing against his shirt. He nodded and looked straight ahead as he squinted his eyes.

"In order to defeat your enemy, you have to know your enemy."

Jean looked back at Jason, who was still standing in his stiff position, back to her. She opened the door and breathed the cool night air. Before heading outside she looked to her right, where a huge mirror was plastered to the wall. She looked at her reflection for a long moment. 

She felt lost. As if she was missing something inside her. Something that was part of whomever she was.

She ignored the empty feeling in her heart and tightened her mouth. She walked outside where she felt the breeze of the swaying palm trees and the smell of ocean waves. 

__

Scott!!! Her mind screamed in a distance as Jean put her hands up to her temples. She shook her head slightly and ignored the name she kept hearing. She just simply ignored it.

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Logan eyed Scott from his side suspiciously. Frankly, he thought this was the craziest thing he's ever heard. He tried to object but Professor Xavier had shrugged off his comments. He knew the mourning process wasn't easy, but what was all this?

First Scott was going crazy for reasons yet not known. Then he was in shock, and now he suddenly snapped out of it wanting to find and help Jean. Logan was certain this guy cared about Jean more than anyone and he came to accept the fact that he loved her more than Logan ever could. But couldn't he just accept the fact that she was dead? He was impossible. Then again, he was Cyclops.

"Are you sure this is it?" Logan asked Scott with a gruff voice as Scott looked straight forward and dealt with the controls of the jet.

Scott's eyes were fixated on the island they had came to, for he could not answer Logan's question. He did not know how he knew where to find her. Everyone questioned him about it and he simply left them with no answer. On the way here Logan asked him where they were going exactly while Scott's mind followed a route that he's never taken before. It's as if it was a natural instinct to know where it is, where she is.

His heart skipped a beat when he thought of seeing her. He just knew she was here. He knew she was alive, he could feel her heart beat, he could feel her pain. He wondered why she was in pain and wanted to clutch his heart to stop it from aching. He hated to see her in any other state than happiness. 

When the professor had told him that he had gone crazy he was shocked. He thought he had been sleeping and dreaming of another place he was in, another body. Seeing through another person's eyes. He felt as if the images he saw were real. 

Scott's face scrunched up slightly at the thought of the images or dreams he had seen. They had felt so real. His whole body shuddered when he remembered how he tortured his soul mate, how he was tortured when he saw her with another man. The images would not stop replaying themselves in his mind. Why was he seeing such horrible things. It was his worst nightmare to see Jean being tortured and hurt, especially by him. That had put him in complete shock. He couldn't move, he couldn't think, he couldn't breath. He couldn't even feel his heart beating anymore. He didn't think it could beat properly when one part of it is missing.

The last image he remembered seeing was of Jean in the arms of another man. A familiar face though. He couldn't remember it clearly. His mind screamed and his heart broke when he saw this. Then he had blinked his eyes to see himself in the infirmary with Professor Xavier. The words then spilled out of his mouth. He didn't know exactly what he was doing, but he knew she was here and that they need to help her somehow, take her home.

He hated not knowing what he was doing. He was a leader and he needed to uphold control. But his heart and mind somehow knew that this had to be done, even though millions of questions arose from this situation.

__

Why would she be here? Why was she in trouble? Who was she with? Scott's mind asked at once. He scanned the island once more and then looked over to his right to find an empty seat. The professor had sent him and Logan on this mission together and Scott had not objected much. Logan wasn't his favorite person in the world, but he was okay overall. And he was part of the team now, part of the family. Scott even sometimes felt that they shared similar traits. They did not like to express their emotions out in the open much and he enjoyed the comfortable, familiar silence between the both of them.

"Logan," Scott said under his breath in irritation. He exited the steps of the jet and then closed it. He walked for two minutes to catch up with Logan along the shore, slightly away from the X-jet. He came up close to Logan who was sniffing the area with his unsheathed claws. "Anything?" Logan just shook his head. Suddenly Scott's heart started to beat faster as he felt her presence. But something was wrong. Something was very wrong. "GET DOWN!!!" Scott exclaimed as he pulled Logan to the ground with him to duck from a powerful energy ball of fire.

Scott brought his head up slowly and Logan did the same. Scott's lips quivered as Logan's eyebrows shot up and knitted together. The two were speechless at what they saw in the sky, over the unseen ocean in the treacherous dark of the night. "Jean," Scott barely whispered as his throat tightened. 

"Come closer you coward!" Jean exclaimed with anger as her slender arms reached out to the skies. "COME CLOSER YOU COWARD!!!" Scott got up from his position on the ground and looked up at Jean as Logan's claws went back in between his knuckles. Scott's gaze did not move from the flying beauty.

"Jean," he whispered again as fire escaped her body in a shape of a large bird. The fire came tumbling in a different form to the sand where Logan and Scott were standing. It was now pure energy that surrounded the ground. Logan suddenly pushed Scott to the opposite side of him as they both leaped to two different sides.

Scott turned his body to lay on his back. He felt pain throbbing in his body. He didn't have to ask if Logan was ok because of his healing factor. He got up with force to look upon Jean's face again. He stood with a slight limp and looked up at her. Something about her was different. Her eyes seemed very different.

Scott's visor was lifted from his face by Jean's moving hand. Scott let out a gasp and shut his eyes with all his effort. Logan looked over at Scott with confusion. He suddenly felt Jean's brainwaves come to his mind and he held his hands to his temples with pain. He felt his feet lifted from the sand and his back hitting a palm tree.

The water from the ocean shore lifted up high, forming a funnel of water. The funnel had a red and orange and gold light that glittered around it. Sand gathered from the ground and arose to be one with the water. Jean shot her arm forward as the water raced over Logan and Scott with force and intensity.

Jean brought herself down slowly as strands of her red hair were strewn across her face by the warm air. She smiled with satisfaction as she saw an empty shore.

She felt her heart beat faster as she remembered the face she had encountered a few seconds ago. But she ignored the feeling as she nodded her head at the empty shore.

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Author's Note: Next chapter coming soon with many things in store for the characters that I love. REVIEW OR YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO READ THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapter 7**

"How was dinner?" Joe asked as Rogue looked at the small, empty plate that had had a little rice on it. Her stomach growled with hunger as she gave Joe a glare. "Don't give me that look."

Suddenly Rogue froze when she heard screams of a man and the sounds of a drill. Then she heard them strapping him down as his screams subsided and a burning sound came into place. She immediately remembered Logan and how a facility such as this experimented on him like he was a scientific experiment rather than a person. She shut her eyes slightly and then opened them to squint their coffee brown color at Joe. "You are a mutant, you should know. They are just lahke any normal person. How can you treat them lahke lab rats?"

"Shut up!" Joe exclaimed as he approached her cell slowly. His eyes left hers and stared at the wall behind her. "My grandfather always told me that I had a disease. William Stryker. He inspired me to become a scientist such as himself. I thought I could figure out a way to cure myself, and I finally figured out how."

Rogue knitted her eyebrows at his words. A cure? What was he talking about?

"My father, Jason Stryker, didn't want anything but to satisfy his own father with whatever he wanted because he was afraid of him," Joe said. "He was so caught up in hating and blaming his father that he forgot to be one. I watched as Jason suffered from my grandfather's experiments and testing on him." Rogue shook her head in disbelief and pity. "I _hate_ my father."

Joe diverted his eyes back towards Rogue and walked up even closer to her cell. His head jolted forward with anger as Rogue backed away behind the cell wall blocking their contact. "You hear that machinery going through the man's skin upstairs? Oh it's a beautiful sound. It reminds me of the time we tortured a disguised mutant working for my grandfather in the facility. One that helped my father survive the flood at Alkali Lake. Now, with the help of the medication and the surgery, my father is healthy and alive."

"You can't blame all mutants for your father's wrong-doin," Rogue said as Joe ignored her like she didn't know what she was talking about.

"All of you are nothing but trouble," Joe said. "You are a plague upon this earth. We all have a disease. . ." Joe paused and headed for the stairs. "I'm going to cure all of you. Oh but don't worry…… it is only a little pain for a short while."

"What do you mean?" Rogue asked with confusion.

"Death _will_ rid you of your disease."

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"So much violence. Vhy?" Kurt asked rhetorically towards Storm. She sat on the red sofa in one of the smaller living rooms. Her face looked exhausted, her brown eyes felt heavy, and her whole body ached with recovering pain. Kurt turned to her and brushed her tangled strands of white hair away from her face. He tucked one strand behind her ear. "Are you sure you are going to be alright? Are you sure he didn't hurt you?"

Ororo nodded slightly and gave him a half smile. She knew she was going to be alright, she just felt confused and worn out at the moment. Everything had happened so fast. The last thing she remembered was her and Kurt's kiss and then Sabretooth attacking her. She heard her screams replay in her mind. She had been so terrified when Sabretooth had dropped her in the small boxed area. It had been in her own garden, the only place where she felt free. For the first time in her life, she had felt trapped, helpless, and a prisoner in her garden. This was the only place where she felt safe and secure and loved. The feeling of not being safe in her own home worried her. What would become of her if she completely lost that feeling?

But that wasn't the only thing bothering her. When she had regained some of her strength back she had tried to follow everything Kurt, Logan, Professor X, and Scott were telling her. She had not yet fully taken in what Scott was intending on doing. How was he going to find Jean? Wasn't she dead? The thought of her best friend being alive no matter what the explanation for it was gave her much hope.

Kurt extended his hand towards hers to give her the cup of coffee he had made her. Storm smiled and accepted it from him. She silently wished more people in this world were like Kurt. So kind, so full of faith. She couldn't believe people were afraid of him. Could they not see the warmth in his yellow eyes?

"Thank you," Storm whispered lightly as she took a sip of her coffee. "Did you tell Bobby and Rogue to come down here?"

"I had asked Kitty vhere zey vere and she said she thinks zey vere studying. She said zey vill be down in a minute after she tells zem," Kurt stated as Storm nodded.

"Storm! Kurt!" Jubilee exclaimed as she came running into the living room with Kitty and Piotr behind her.

"What is it Jubilee?" Storm asked with a worried expression.

"Rogue and Bobby are no where to be found. Trust me, Multiple looked everywhere," Jubilee said referring to Jamie who caused himself to multiply and search high and low.

Before Jubilee could say anything more Kurt and Ororo had already teleported out of the room.

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Logan opened his eyes to see water all around him as it entered his mouth. Bubbles formed in the water when he struggled to unconsciously let out a growl. He couldn't contemplate anything that had just happened to them. Not right now at least. He had to find Cyclops.

He suddenly noticed a red visor floating around in the water beneath him and swam down deeper to reach for it, realizing that Scott was probably somewhere deeper than the visor. His lungs were running out of air as he went down deeper. He realized that he couldn't rescue his teammate if he was dead too. So he swam up to the surface to catch his breath. He placed the visor on the hook of his pants, making sure it was secured tightly. He felt something heavy tugging at his foot, but he told himself he would take care of it when he fully regained his breath.

When his breath was back he dove back down into the salty ocean water. The water was a bit cold in the dark night. Logan could feel his goose bumps forming all around his body. He went deeper and deeper, kicking his feet back and forth to keep him going. His eyes searched the blurry waters as he saw emptiness.

He suddenly felt the heavy object tug at his foot again. His eyes widened as he looked down to find Scott holding on with a struggle. Logan took Scott's hand off of his foot and grabbed his wrist. He could see that his eyes were shut tightly, trying not to harm anything in his path. He was really cautious and controlled.

He swam up to the surface again and brought Scott up by force, realizing he was worn out. He held him by the shoulders to keep him steady. "Whoa Scooter," Logan stated. "You okay there Sport?"

Scott broke out into a fit of coughing in response to the question, keeping his eyes shut tightly. "Is………she………" Scott paused to breathe and coughed once again, "………alright?"

"Yeah she's alright. My first clue was when _she_ attacked _us_," Logan said with sarcasm dripping from every word he spoke. He felt like she had just given them only a taste of what's to come.

Logan looked at Scott's shut eyes and reached for the visor he had attached to his pants. But it was not there. So he hadn't secured it on tight enough. _Damn_……_damn damn_, Logan cursed himself with bitterness. Scott held on to his shoulders as Logan swam back to the far shore. When they reached the shore after ten minutes they tumbled onto the wet sand with torn leather uniforms and stringy hair.

"Agh, the jet's still here," Logan said. "Let's go home."

"What about Jean?" Scott asked with concern. His eyebrows knitted down to his shut eyes.

"Are you blind?!? Do you not remember what just happened?" Logan shouted. Scott just stood there with a solemn expression on his face. "We'll come back another time. Come on!"

"Whoa, wait a minute," Scott started as he limped up in a standing position. "You can't fly the jet! You don't know how to."

Logan looked at Scott's shut eyes. "And who's going to fly it? You? I don't think so Stevie Wonder," Logan said with a gruff laugh. "Besides, there's a first time for everything."

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"Are you with the Brotherhood once again?" Professor Xavier asked calmly as Sabretooth stood behind a small cell wall that they had never used before, meant to be for invaders. Professor Xavier meant no harm towards Sabretooth, he just wanted answers. Sabretooth just growled loudly and tried to break through the metal bars, but to no avail. He didn't remember how he got in here and how Logan got away, but he knew he had to get out.

Suddenly, the teleportation sound that Professor Xavier had somewhat gotten used to could be heard behind him. He heard Sabretooth growling and glaring at the two behind him.

Professor Xavier turned around, sensing something was wrong. "Bobby and Rogue are missing," Storm began as Professor Xavier turned back to Sabretooth. He paused for a moment in time to take in what he had just heard. Now was not the time for the two to be wandering off without telling anyone.

Professor Xavier didn't hesitate with his next move. "I'm going to find them," Professor Xavier said, referring to cerebro, as he started to wheel himself forward. "Will you two be alright here?" They both nodded very slightly as Professor Xavier exited the small room.

Storm stayed back as far as possible from the cell as she saw Sabretooth staring at them and growling deep in his throat. Storm couldn't help notice something from the corner of her eyes. On Sabretooth's neck was a dog tag. The same dog tag Logan had told her about before. The one that gave them names as if they were test subjects or trained animals.

Sabretooth noticed Storm was now looking closer at the metal chain around his neck. He put his hands tightly around the metal bars and sank his deep black eyes into Storm's. He growled lightly and grabbed his dog tag to slide it beneath his shirt.

Storm finally realized that she had kept her eyes on the dog tag for more than necessary. She moved in her position, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the thought of experimentation on people. She shuddered slightly as Kurt put his hand on her shoulder to ease her, not knowing what was bothering her.

"Vhy do you come here?" Kurt began with slight anger in his voice, but showing no harm. Sabretooth just looked at Kurt with annoyance.

He turned to Storm and growled. "You think you get rid of someone, proud of your accomplishment, only to find out that they are not really gone," Sabretooth said, referring to himself. "There is never an end."

Silence followed as his words sank into Storm's mind. Maybe, just maybe, he was right.

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"LLL………OOOGGGAAANNN!!!" Scott exclaimed as he shut his eyes even harder and held on to his seat handle until his knuckles turned pale white. "I said the button on the left not the button on the right!!!"

"Yeah, yeah," Logan stated as the jet came back into position from it's rough turn high in the skies. "They looked the same to me. Calm down, I've got this under control."

The jet was shaking and swerving from side to side every two minutes. When Scott had told Logan to put it on auto-pilot now, he had thankfully pressed the right button. "You have to admit though, I am better than Rogue," Logan stated now that it was quiet. They sat in silence for a few moments as Scott's jaw tightened. Now that the chaos had calmed down, his mind was back to being tortured by the scene back at the island.

He was sure that was Jean, he could feel her. But why was she there? How did she survive? Why was she not the same Jean that had been with them before? She was so powerful. Her eyes had scared him for that one second in time. But he was thankful that his eyes had been shut because of the loss of his visor. His mouth twisted in an awkward position and he held in the overwhelming feeling of emotion inside him.

"Turn the jet around," Scott ordered in a mono-toned and solemn expression. "Now."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Logan asked with amazement. "Cyclops, we can't go back. I know you want to, but we can't. Look, I don't know what that was all about but I know one thing for sure."

"What's that?"

"We are going back to the mansion," Logan slightly shouted with a surprise of silence as a response. Logan took the jet off auto-pilot as he took control of the jet once again.

"WRONG BUTTON LOGAN!!!" Scott exclaimed as the jet sped up in the cloudy night sky.

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"Alright Rogue," Joe said as he brought Bobby down in chains. "You can be occupied with your boyfriend now." Joe locked him up in one of the boxed cells and Bobby dropped to his knees. "I figured two X-men is better than one," Joe said with a snarl as he exited the room.

"Bobby," Rogue said with hurt in her voice at seeing him like this. His clothes were torn and she couldn't help notice the little mark on his shoulder. "What did they do to you?"

"Rogue," Bobby muttered. "Are you ok?"

"Ah should be asking you that," Rogue said as she looked at him with tenderness from her prison.

"Joe had used some kind of tranquilizer on me back at the mansion," Bobby stated as he pointed to the mark on his shoulder. "If I use my powers this thing will seriously harm me. Apparently I heard that these chains don't allow cerebro to find us either. I guess Joe turned out to be a great scientist."

Rogue listened to his unhopeful words. He had come here by force, unlike her. "Please forgive me, ah……" Rogue silently spoke and then paused as she decided not to tell him how she got here.

"That little…" Bobby started then stopped to take a breath. He sat in a sitting position and looked over at Rogue. His glittering blue eyes glazed over with a wet coat of water mixed with what seemed like pure ice. "I love you Rogue."

"I love you too Bobby."

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The time has come, to land this jet. Logan knew he could do it, yet he knew Cyclops was terribly hesitant. Scott had repeated what Logan had to do to land the jet enough times for him to know. He reached his leather gloved hand and shifted gears. His claws on his right hand popped out and he reached forward to press the buttons needed for the landing. He lowered the jet towards the opening basketball court and brought the jet down as it shook intensely.

The jet felt as if it was being pulled down by gravity as it dropped to the floor. It made a loud thump on the underground floor and Scott held on for dear life. He took in a deep breath when he realized that they were finally home. "You call that a landing?" Scott asked, eyes still shut.

Logan escorted Scott out of the jet and down the steps as they entered the lower level halls. Logan entered an equipment room he was familiar with and grabbed one of Scott's spare visors out of a glass case. He handed it to Scott to place on his face. Scott did so and with a relieved sigh opened his eyes.

He saw red, familiar things in front of him. He saw Logan, but Jean was no where to be found. He remembered the first time he had put his visor on he had seen Jean in front of his eyes. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. They had become friends before and her voice was so kind and welcoming, he knew her face would match her heart. When he looked into her eyes, the feeling he had before became stronger. He knew there and then that she was his match. The other part of his soul.

His heart ached with overwhelming pain and he tried to brush it off to be the leader that he is. He knew though, that he wasn't going to give up, no matter what. But he was happy that she was still alive, that there was still hope.

Scott looked down at his torn and wet clothes and decided to go and change. He headed upstairs, leaving Logan in the lower levels.

Logan grabbed a sweater and placed it over his soaked uniform. He replayed the scene at the island and decided to wear off some stress in the weight room. He headed to the elevator and pressed the up button. When he reached the top floor his keen hearing senses couldn't help pick up the noise of the doorbell. At first he shrugged it off, but when it kept ringing in his ear he decided to open the cursed door. When he opened the door, a mailman stood before him with an envelope wrapped neatly in his hand.

"Special delivery for Charles Xavier," the man spoke with enthusiasm. Logan just shrugged, took the letter from the man and closed the door in his face without a word. He sniffed the letter just in case of something unexpected. Everything was safe and clear. He decided no one would mind if he read it, so why not?

He ripped the envelope open, not caring about saving it's neatness, and read the words written in print.

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Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters:

We are writing this letter to inform you on what is taking place Saturday, the fifteenth…………due to the assassination of our president, the vice president will now take his place as we…………we must not dwell on a tragic event………society must move on as……… we invite all members of the Xavier Institute to witness the first steps in the beginning of a bright future……………signed Vice President Watson.

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Author's Note: Reviews are greatly appreciated. Thank you. Hope you liked it!!! More to come, if you review!!!


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter 8**

Magneto slightly scowled at Pyro in the back seat as the bluish gray helicopter landed on the school grounds. He has not come to the Xavier Institute to start a brawl of fighting. He had other things to do at the moment. He was here to pick up Sabretooth.

"Mystique," Magneto said quickly as Mystique nodded.

She came out of the helicopter and headed towards the school unnoticed in her camouflaged ensemble. She was walking towards the elevator when she spotted Wolverine from the corner of her now brown eyes.

"'Ro," Logan called from far behind. Logan never minded talking to Ororo, he's become fond of their friendship, and he also wanted to make sure she was alright after the incident with Sabretooth.

Mystique turned around as her shoulder length white hair bounced with her. She smiled and spoke quickly. "Hello Logan," she said as Logan gave her a confused look to why she was in such a hurry. The elevator opened and she walked in quickly before he could smell that it wasn't Storm. But Logan ran to the elevator in time and walked in as the doors closed. He looked over to Storm and slightly knitted his eyebrows.

He eyed her as his nose sensed something different. He didn't know what it was though. Storm suddenly approached him and backed him up against the elevator wall. She grabbed his hands and put them tightly around her waist as she put her hands around his neck. "I need a strong man to fulfill my needs," she said with a slight grin as she leaned in forward and puckered her lips. Logan stopped to look at her full, purple colored lips for a moment but then grabbed her wrists from his neck and brought them to her side. _What is she doing? _Logan asked himself but abruptly stopped.

His nose scrunched up and his eyebrows creased in opposite directions. He looked at Ororo's face for a second and noticed her brown eyes flash yellow. Logan pushed himself away from her roughly as the elevator doors opened.

Mystique watched him unsheathe his claws and shape shifted into a snake in response. She slithered away from the elevator as Logan hurried out. He scanned the area but she was no where to be found. He turned around and pointed his claws towards the person in front of him.

"Logan," Professor Xavier said calmly. "What are you doing?"

Logan didn't unsheathe his claws but put his hand down un-defensively and cracked his neck. He looked over to where the Professor came from: cerebro. He quickly gave the professor a 'tell me what's going on look'. "Bobby and Rogue are missing. And I am unable to locate them."

"What?!?" Logan asked furiously. His mind pondered where they could be and then he came to realization that he had broken his promise. He cursed himself for not being there for Rogue. He always promised to take care of her, to protect her. But he was not there for her now and she was gone. "Where could they have gone?" Professor Xavier just shook his head. Logan's high jaw line tightened as he slipped the letter out from his pocket and handed it to the professor. "Professor…Mystique is in the mansion."

Professor Xavier took his attention away from the letter and formed surprised eyes at the mention of Mystique. "Logan, head to the containment room immediately," Professor Xavier said calmly. But before he could even finish what he was saying, Logan was long gone.

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Scott ran his fingers through his brown hair and breathed a deep sigh. "Jean," Scott whispered to himself softly. His lips and chin quivered and he tried to hold back his tears. But he couldn't hold them back any longer. Not when his heart is half empty, not half full. He looked at the bathroom mirror and stared at his reflection for a long while. He did not recognize the reflection as well as he used to. He felt a deep feeling in his gut.

"She feels so lost," Scott said to himself. _Me too_, he thought with sadness, _me too_. _You'll be in my arms again soon. Soon……… _Suddenly Scott remembered all the dreams he had been seeing. He cringed as one replayed itself in his head again.

"Funny to think you could get rid of me," Scott said with a loud laugh that rang in his ears again and again.

He held the dagger tightly in his hands and aimed it towards her neck. He scraped it across her delicate skin as she let out a loud shriek. She choked on a sob as she fell to the floor.

"You……the only way is to kill you!" Scott shouted. "Fine with me!" He aimed the dagger towards her heart and shoved it in.

Scott's body shook slightly as he clutched his heart tightly. He tried to make his heavy breathing subside slowly. He kept telling himself it was going to be ok. Everyone kept telling him that. What he feared was that they were wrong.

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Mystique entered the room, shape shifted as Storm again, and ran towards the cell. She looked around for any type of key when she suddenly felt a kick in her face. It felt like a sharp heel. She turned around to see Storm. Storm's fist met with Mystique's jaw as Mystique jolted back. Then she twirled fully around to unleash a kick into Storm's stomach with the replica of her heel as a comeback.

Storm shot her arm forward as Mystique blocked it with her own arm and shape shifted back to herself. Storm did the same with her other arm when the first try didn't work and the move repeated itself. Storm kicked her leg in a circular position and Mystique ducked and slid under Storm's open legs. She got back up again and grabbed Storm's wrist as Storm twisted them outwards in an opposite direction of each other.

Mystique twisted them over both their heads so they circled around in the air and were now that back to back. Mystique released her grip and backed away.

She twisted her body in the air and kicked her foot into Storm's face as Storm went flying out the door and into the wide hall. She picked herself off the floor to reveal her eyes glazed with white. Lightening raced through her veins as it shot towards Mystique. Mystique was now thrown behind the wall.

Storm approached slowly with wind howling around her. She noticed Nightcrawler approach her. The winds slowly calmed down. But suddenly Nightcrawler grabbed a chain off the wall and wrapped a it around her body tightly in seconds.

She suddenly heard a bamf, to find Nightcrawler in the air doing a back flip to shove Mystique, shape shifted into Nightcrawler, away from her. Kurt busied himself with unwrapping the chain from Storm's body as Mystique raced towards the cell.

Before she could free Sabretooth who was just watching everything, she felt claws aim towards her neck. She ducked her head to bend down to the ground. She let out her leg over Wolverine's, causing him to fall to the hard floor. But he quickly got back up again and grabbed Mystique's neck from behind him. He leaned her body back as he squeezed her neck. She raised her leg forward to kick him in his chin as he let go.

She suddenly turned into Jean and Logan looked up at her with anger. He was slightly distracted by the sight of Jean that Mystique easily kicked him in the balls and sent him crashing into Nightcrawler and Storm. She reached for the controls to the side of the wall and pressed buttons knowingly with speed. The cell lifted open.

"Logan," Storm said. "You can get off of us now."

"Right," Logan said with a gruff voice. He looked over to the open cell to find an empty space. He looked over to the door to find it open wider than it was.

"Did zey get avay?" Kurt asked as Storm and Logan gave him a small stare. Kurt laughed slightly. "I can take a hint."

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"Darling…… Phoenix," Jason said trying to sound warm and happy. "I hope you are understanding who you are now."

"Yes, I think I finally am," Phoenix said as she wrapped her arms around Jason's neck and gave him a long kiss. "So are we going to get food or not?"

Jason nodded as he looked out the window of the small black car. They had flown off the island in his personal jet and flown to the nearest land to go grocery shopping. It wouldn't take too long. This was a simple test, one he knew she would pass with a blink of an eye.

Phoenix left the car and entered the supermarket. She aimed her hand forward at the cashier to release a ball of orange and yellow energy. The cashier bolted back and fell to the ground without a sound. Everyone started screaming and holding on to their families.

Phoenix looked over at the canned goods on the shelves. She raised them with her telekinesis and ripped them apart into bits and pieces with sharp metal ends. She aimed them forward towards one couple as she let out a loud and mischievous laugh.

She quickly sensed a man taking out his pocket knife from his back pocket. She brought the knife in the air with her telekinesis and aimed it towards his heart. When he fell to the ground, wrapped in his blood, she took the knife from his heart and aimed it towards many others.

She glanced at the customers who were still alive and grinned widely. The shelves filled with all kinds of food all around the people started to shake. Phoenix raised herself up and balled her hands into fists. The light of the energy glowed all around her as she yelled loudly. Her breathing became heavier as she didn't struggle a bit to move the items. She moved all the people to the middle at the same time she was moving the shelves forward.

In seconds, the shelves were toppled on the customers as well as all the food, cash registers, and desks. Phoenix breathed through her nose rapidly with a grin on her face as her chest heaved up and down. She smiled as her breathing subsided. She loved the power. She loved the feeling of absolute power. The power to kill.

She picked up a few items needed for her and Jason and nodded with satisfaction as she went back to the car.

"I'm back," Phoenix said as Jason noticed the now burning supermarket. He turned to her and gave a small smile. "I couldn't help myself," Phoenix said referring to the supermarket that was now in flames.

"That's my girl."

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Kitty sat next to Piotr as he drew her onto the sheet of drawing paper in his sketchbook. Kitty moved her head to the side as she heard something bothering her from afar.

"Kitty, please try to stay still," Piotr said as he looked down at his paper.

"Shh," Kitty said, bringing her index finger to her lips. "Do you here that?"

Piotr put his sketchbook on the table and got up from his seat on the comfortable, black leather couch. He moved towards the sound that he also heard as Kitty followed. They walked towards one of the control room's that operated all of the mansion's systems. It was located inside the living room they were in. It was hidden behind the fireplace.

Piotr moved the picture of Bobby and Rogue, a picture of the X-men, a picture of the students, to reach the over-sized picture of Jean hanging on top of the fireplace. He lifted it with his muscular arms and pressed the red button that was behind it as the rich brown fireplace opened up.

"Colossus!" Kitty exclaimed with a terrified expression. "Look! It's, like, programmed for def-con four! Like what are we going to do?!?"

"Let's go get the others," Colossus said, trying not to sound panicked. They hurried out of the room as the screen kept on flashing the words 'Demolition Mode' and kept beeping.

The numbers read '09:45'.

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Storm, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler walked down the long stairs of the large convention center as Cyclops took Professor Xavier down the ramp. Storm looked over to Kurt, who she hardly recognized with his image inducer. She thought he looked much better without it, in his blue ensemble. He was wearing a black tuxedo, as were the rest of the men. Except for Logan of course. He wore a leather jacket and a t-shirt and considered that formal. No one even bothered arguing with him. Storm wore an orange dress that tied around her neck and flared out from the bottom with a sparkling orange chiffon over it and a scarf around her shoulders. Her white hair was pulled back in a designed style and her dress flowed with her as she went down the steps. She couldn't help notice Kurt stealing a few glances.

"Keep your eyes open," Cyclops said in his usual tone, pushing aside anything that's happened lately. The vice president put his papers together in preparation to start speaking as soon as he talked with his associates. Cyclops noticed the professor looking at the vice president suspiciously. "What is it Professor?"

"Cyclops," Storm said as she put her hand lightly on his arm. "Where's Logan?"

Cyclops turned to Storm and looked around. Logan was no where to be found. "Logan," he whispered to himself with irritation.

It took ten more minutes for all reporters and some government officials to get settled in. When everyone finally arrived and became settled they diverted their attention towards the large podium.

"Welcome," the vice president spoke as he approached the podium. "Humans and mutants, welcome. We have sadly suffered the loss of the president in an assassination. I hope that I will be able to fulfill the same great work he put into his presidency. Now, the biggest problem everyone is concerned about is the mutant issue and it's affect on our world stage."

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Cyclops, Professor Xavier whispered into Scott's mind. _The Brotherhood is here._ Cyclops looked around to see if he could spot them anywhere when he saw Pyro on one of the platforms to the side, hiding behind an artifact.

"I believe if we all work together as a nation we could see past each other's differences and live in a peaceful world," Vice President Watson said as he flipped his papers. Flipping his papers was the signal. The signal for the FoH to release the Sentinels. "I trust that……"

"GET DOWN!!!" Cyclops yelled as he raced towards the vice president. He jumped onto the platform and brought the vice president to the ground, away from the immense fire from Pyro. Everyone started to panic as Pyro's laughs could be heard from afar.

Suddenly Sabretooth came forward from another platform and ready to fall unto a small group of people. Logan jumped out from behind him and reversed his direction, ending up on the ground in a brawl.

Suddenly Storm ripped apart the bottom of her dress from the top to reveal pants. She wore them just in case. You can't fight in a dress. She raised herself up high as everyone gasped and started crawling everywhere. Her eyes glazed with white and lightening was sent from dark clouds above towards Pyro's tanks. Pyro jumped out of the way and landed on the ground. He rolled back up and grabbed the valve for his tanks.

Fire shot towards Storm in the shape of a skeleton's face. The fire surrounded her as she fell to the ground, coughing.

"What's the matter teacher? I've been bad. Aren't you going to give me detention?" Pyro said with a snort of laughter as fire shot out rapidly in both directions from where he was standing. The fire reached a curtain on the right side of where he was standing and was working itself forward very rapidly.

Cyclops reached for his visor as he shot a powerful beam at Pyro, sending him to the ground with a heavy vase on him. Pyro recovered quickly and got back up. His tanks let out fire towards Scott in the shape of Jean's face. Scott's eyebrows creased in anger as he hid inside the podium.

Nightcrawler noticed Mystique on the small balcony at the top of the white pole. He let go of the wheelchair after he made sure Professor Xavier was safe in the small corner. He knew Professor Xavier needed to be away from the chaos to see where Magneto was with his telepathy. Nightcrawler quickly hopped up the side of the squared pole and landed in front of Mystique. Mystique immediately acted defensively and straightened her hand to send it flying against Kurt's throat.

Kurt hit the back of the pole and darted towards her. He teleported behind her and kicked her in the middle of her back. She bent her back forward and turned to glare at Nightcrawler.

"Is this how you want it Son?" Mystique said as Nightcrawler looked at her with confusion. Why was she calling him son? "Mutant against mutant. Mother against son. They are the enemy. Not us."

Nightcrawler paused and looked at her for a long moment. He did see a slight resemblance. "Mein Gott…… help us Father," Kurt said to himself as he backed away from her slowly. "Vhere is Magneto?"

Professor Xavier felt Magneto's presence in the corner, near the high ceiling. _Why are you're X-men getting in the way of the Brotherhood getting rid of these worthless people? Let them rid themselves of this pathetic vice president. He is exactly what we fear. And the only way to stop them from killing us is to kill them. Starting with the vice president, _Magneto spoke to Professor Xavier telepathically.

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Who's they? Professor Xavier asked curiously as he watched everyone run out screaming and the vice president exiting in a hurry also.

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The FoH, my friend. 'Friends of Humanity', Magneto thought back to his old friend.

Suddenly a huge sound came crashing through the ceiling. The X-men and the Brotherhood were the only people left here, and now they were all standing bunched together with debris all around them, staring at the huge robot looking object hovering overhead.

The robot looked through red tinted glass and a circle targeting the crowd in front of it. It started blinking red as the words 'MUTANT' kept flashing forward and back. The sentinel's yellow eyes flashed as it's red metallic body opened up to reveal missiles. It darted out the missiles and shot them forward.

Magneto let out his hands and stopped the missiles in mid-air. The sentinel quickly turned to him and shot a missile from it's arm instead, to be unexpected. Everyone got up, ready to destroy the threatening machine.

But what they didn't realize right away were a couple of more behind it circling around in the sky.

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Author's Note: Like? No? Yes? Any questions? I appreciate all those reviewers. More to come if you review!!!


	9. Chapter Nine

**Chapter 9**

Charles Xavier looked up from his crouched position on the ground. He could feel the piercing pain in his side as he slightly opened his eyes to see the ground covered in debris. He sensed only one person in the room with him.

"Eric," he said slowly as he struggled to sit up. All he heard in response was hard breaths full of terror. Charles laid his body back down on the debris in an attempt to give up what he started. Instead, he slithered his way towards his old friend slowly and forcefully.

He leaned his shaky hand forward and clutched the crumbled objects toppled over Eric Lehnsherr. He leaned on his elbow and struggled to lift them off of him, but to no avail. He stumbled but managed to hold himself up with his palms. Between his fingers, he felt something warm and dripping. He bent his head down to see blood finding it's way from under the debris. It was the blood of Eric.

Charles reached his hand out in an attempt to do what he had been trying to do a minute ago. But he suddenly felt Eric's hand jumped up and grab his tightly. A sense of failure leaped to Charles' mind instantly. Charles couldn't even move the muscles in his hand, but it didn't bother him at all. "Hold on Eric. I am going to get all of this off of you."

"It's hopeless," Eric said in a weak tone. Charles looked at his eyes for a long moment. They seemed gray, distant.

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"It's hopeless," Charles heard his eighteen year-old friend say clearly.

"Eric, we can do this together. We can change the world."

"How Charles? How?"

Charles looked at his friend again and saw the years that passed in their lives. Eric's eyes were tired, hopeless.

"Tell Cyclops that he has perfect aim," Eric said as he let out coughs. That had been the last thing that Charles remembers seeing. Cyclops had saved Eric before the sentinel could finish it's work. But then it went after Scott, and Charles didn't know what happened after that. It all seemed blurry to him.

"You can tell him yourself," Charles said, full of faith.

"You……know," Eric paused between the half breaths that he was taking and forced himself to continue, "that I never wanted it to go this far." Charles knitted his eyebrows at his comment. "I am truly sorry about Jean."

Charles bent his head down in mourning towards his dead X-men, student, and most importantly, his daughter. He closed his eyes and scrunched his face up slightly.

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"It doesn't have to be that way," Charles said calmly and persuasively. Eric just turned around, back towards him.

"You speak of peace," a nineteen year-old Eric spoke with doubt dripping from every word he spoke. "And if it goes too far, what will happen then?"

The young Charles stared at his friend blankly for endless moments. He closed his eyes.

He winced at the look on his friend's face. Drained. Charles was fully determined to get this debris off of him. He sat on his stomach and pulled and pushed. He managed to get some of the debris off. Just enough so he could see Eric's damaged leg. The blood didn't stop running out of it.

"Hold on Eric," Charles said as he took off his now dusty jacket and pressed it over his leg to stop the blood. He was loosing too much. He wrapped it around his leg and tied it very tightly.

Eric just silently shook his head. He closed his mouth, which increased his breathing from his nose. Charles didn't know what to say to comfort his old friend. He was always giving meaningful and good advice to his children. Everyone believed he knew everything. They believed that he held all the answers, that his path was the righteous one. But at this very moment he was speechless, to his own brother. He held no answers, and he felt as if the path he had chosen was covered by immense fog.

He focused on his friend's eyes as his eyebrows knitted together in concentration.

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"I am Charles Xavier," Eric mimicked jokingly as Charles let out a small laugh. "Be my slave," he said with a smile as he put his hands towards his temples, brushing a few strands of his brown hair back.

"Look at me," Charles said, playing along. "I'm so strong, I can control metal! Give me your car……" he said as he held out his hand then brought it towards himself. "Oops…never mind."

The two started with their laughter. Eric put his arm around Charles' neck and had him in a headlock now. When he let go Charles smiled at him widely. "Hey Eric, why don't you and I build a machine that can use my mind for something useful. Such as……"

"Finding other mutants," Eric finished. "Why not? I do need a girlfriend you know."

Eric looked over at Charles and did not even struggle one bit to give him a small smile. Charles knew the memory he shared with him would calm him, get his mind off of everything happening at the moment.

Charles looked at their hands that were cuffed in a tight handshake and nodded his head slowly.

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"No matter what," Charles spoke full-heartedly in his young voice. "We will always be friends."

"Charles, if we were fighting against each other in a deadly war," Eric began, "I would pull you over to shake your hand and maybe chat a little."

Charles smiled and let out his hand for Eric's. Eric slapped his hand into Charles's tightly and shook it slightly. He tapped their cuffed hands with his free one and smiled.

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The feeling of being lost had not fluttered in Phoenix's system lately. All she felt was power and control. Complete control. But at this very moment she felt something different.

Something was sinking into her bones like skin soaking in ice cold water. It was not because of Jason's lips on hers, but something else.

Her muscles were sore and her body was in pain. It wasn't coming from the inside, but it was as if she had been injured in a battle. She had gone to the woods for a short time to practice her battle skills, but she had never injured herself. She tried to ignore it and diverted her attention back to kissing Jason. She opened her eyes, not to see Jason's face attached to hers, but to see a vision she had seen before.

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The red beams were so powerful this time and her arm could not take much longer. The beams started digging through her skin as she let out screams and could hear this man laughing in her face.

Scott took his hand and punched her in her stomach as she fell to the floor once again, helpless. He took her head in his hands and lifted it up as he twisted her head to the side, and a loud crack could be heard.

Jean buried her lifeless head in her hands and turned around to flash fiery eyes at Scott. She got up and looked behind her to see a dead corpse lying on the ground. She smiled and walked away as the body disappeared from her thoughts and her eyes shut tightly at the slightly cold touch of Jason's lips.

She continued kissing Jason as he pushed his mouth harder against hers. She knitted her eyebrows in frustration at the man in the nightmares that she knew was part of her past. She knew that he was an arch nemesis of hers that was after her because of her great power. Power to control the world. She also knew that this man needed to be destroyed.

She had believed she did a good job when they had come to the island to fight, but she knew they were still out there somewhere. More of them that worked with this man were also out there. When Jason told her that they had left him to die as they saved themselves, she was disgusted. They were after her fiancé too. Soon they will know not to mess with her and learn her true power.

She felt Jason's hands holding her waist tight and his hands on the bare skin of her stomach, moving their way up. She felt his lips on her neck now. She slightly shifted in her position at the uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Phoenix suddenly let out a loud cough. She pushed Jason aside and got off the couch to stand up. She started coughing uncontrollably with no idea of why she was. She could not stop her coughing, for it was suffocating her. She felt Jason's hands tap the top of her back to help her, but that only made it worse.

She pushed his hands off her and bent her head down to try and stop the pain in her lungs. She let out her last cough before they abruptly stopped. She put her hand on her chest. She had never felt so weak before.

"Where did that come from?" Jason asked curiously. Phoenix just shook her head. Jason shrugged it off as he neared her again. "Now, where were we?" he asked rhetorically as he pushed her lips against his. Phoenix looked at him for one second and sent a telekinetic shove against his chest to send him flying across the room with a couple of objects toppled over him. Jason pursed his lips in anger and got up with his fists tightened. But then he relaxed them as he worked his magic. Magic that goes by the name of illusions.

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Phoenix looked around a candlelit table on the deck of a ship. She looked out onto the clear blue water to see her reflection. All she could feel was emptiness. But then she felt smooth hands caress her arms from behind.

"Promise that you will always be there for me," Jason said.

"Of course my love," Phoenix said.

"I love you," Jason said as he kissed her cheek.

"I love you too," Phoenix said.

Phoenix looked around the room that was the living room now. She smiled at Jason and walked over to him to give him a long kiss. Jason nodded with satisfaction. _Scott!! _Jean's mind rang that name in the deep part of the back of her head over and over. Phoenix backed away from Jason and he looked at her confused.

"What's wrong my love?" Jason asked as he ran a finger down her cheek.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Phoenix said as she walked back to her room silently. __

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Cyclops tried to ignore his soar muscles as he broke out into a fit of coughing. The immense smoke was filling his lungs and he could barely see in front of him. He watched as flames of fire sprouted through the building with intensity and sparks flew everywhere. The room had a thin border circled around a giant hole in the center filled with debris from the ceiling. The small, but powerful missiles the machine had thrown caused it to become that way. These machines were large in size and they were obviously targeting all mutants.

Cyclops had saved Magneto before the deadly machine could finish it's work. Then the Brotherhood and the X-men spread out to fight off several of the machines. When the missiles punched a hole in the ground everyone had disappeared except for Cyclops and Sabretooth, who had been on the far sides of the room.

Cyclops was fighting for a reason he was oblivious of. Millions of questions should be running through his mind at the moment about this whole situation, but weren't. All he could really think about was Jean. He was so distracted by the memory playing in his head of seeing her at the island and knowing she was alive that he did not realize a piece of what's left of the ceiling ready to fall on him.

Suddenly, he heard Sabretooth let out a loud roar as he grabbed Cyclops' arm to raise him off the ground and to throw himself along with Cyclops upon the wall in the corner of the crumbled room.

"Thanks," Cyclops said in a surprised tone. Sabretooth shoved him against the wall with one hand and just growled back at him with his sharp teeth.

Cyclops followed far behind Sabretooth to see where the machines had gone. The machines would not stop attacking and they had a high percent chance of becoming extinct if they do not find out where they were hidden behind all the smoke. And Cyclops would not allow it. Not when the X-men needed him, not when Jean was alive.

The smoke suddenly cleared out when the sentinel approached them in the air. It stood there staring with it's yellow eyes. Cyclops shot powerful red beams from his eyes at the machine. It jolted back a few feet but then approached even closer to shoot an imitation of Cyclops' power. The red beams shot at Sabretooth and Cyclops as they flew backwards.

Two more of the sentinels came beside the first one, only tracking two mutants, and were ready to do what they were built to do. Destroy.

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Joe examined all the mutants who were moved to the higher levels to witness his beautiful machine in action. "The process shall begin now. Starting with you," he said with a wide smile as he pointed to a worn out looking mutant.

"Bobby, we have to do something," Rogue said, feeling helpless. Bobby looked over to her with his tired and hopeless blue eyes.

"We can't do anything Rogue," Bobby said as he bent his head down. Rogue sighed silently and closed her eyes in pain at seeing something so immoral.

"Rogue," Joe said with a smug look on his evil face. "Bobby. You know your friends are handling the attack with the sentinels better than I had imagined."

Rogue and Bobby stared blankly at the mutant being strapped down with tight buckles and chains that they were all still wearing. The table began moving forward as machines started working. The sound of the machines was deafening but the sight of the mutant being pushed forward towards them was even worse.

"Torture," Joe said with a small laugh.

The drill began to dig through the mutants skin as his screams rang through the air like sharp knives. Another machine began to lower itself into the top of his arm. This one looked like a spinning wheel with sharp spikes. The table suddenly sank into a pool of salt acid sand.

Rogue creased her eyebrows in horror and turned her head away. Bobby wanted to comfort her with all that he had at the moment, but he just couldn't. All he could do was watch her be terrified, as he was at the moment. He tried to look at anything else in the room and his eye suddenly caught a corner full of water.

Why would Joe need water? But before Bobby's mind could ponder any more questions, Joe lifted his hand to move the water as he brought it into the mutant's mouth. The mutant choked on the water and tried to spit it out. When the water escaped he broke out into a fit of coughing and his face was purple and red.

Bobby's heart started beating faster with fear at every second. He took his eyes away from the tortured mutant and set it in the same position as Rogue. Away from where they were about to be.

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Mystique looked over at her son that she had fallen down with when the sentinels attacked with a powerful missile that caused the ground to crumble beneath them. What luck to have fallen down with her son, who knew the truth now. Or maybe it wasn't luck at all, maybe it was fate.

She lifted her curvaceous body off all the debris and examined the room surrounded by objects blocking their way out. She couldn't see anything behind them or ahead. She looked over at Kurt for a few moments with eyes full of regret for not being the one who raised him. She heard him moan and open his eyes slowly as she busied herself with trying to figure out a way to get out.

Kurt changed his position on the ground to now be sitting in a position where his knees touched his chest. He looked over to Mystique with innocent yellow eyes then focused his eyes on something else and began to say holy words.

Mystique froze in her position for a moment then started pacing the room slowly, ignoring what Kurt was saying. Then Kurt stopped.

"Vhy did you abandon me?" Kurt asked with a little anger. "Has zis fight against humanity become so important to us zat ve forget about our own family?"

"We are trapped here and you are worrying about that?" Mystique replied bitterly. "Can you not teleport us out of here?"

"And vhere vould zat be?" Kurt asked half-heartedly. "I don't even know vhere ve are. And I cannot teleport somevhere vhen I cannot see vhere somevhere is." Kurt and Mystique also knew that he could not teleport back to the room they were in because they did not know what was left of the room. Mystique glared at him. He looked down and began saying another prayer.

"That's not going to help," she said cruelly about Kurt's prayers. Kurt did not look up and continued saying the prayers, but a little louder this time.

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"In an attempt to make peace with mutants by our new president, the mutants staged an attack on him," the newscaster spoke with a mono-toned voice. "Also endangering many other innocent lives in the process. Back to you Hugh."

"Thank you James," Hugh, the newscaster in a helicopter, said as the camera taped the burning building below them. "It is believed that the fire raging over the convention center where the gathering was held was the cause of mutants. This center contained many historical events and importance in which, many people believe, was destroyed and tarnished by the hands of mutants. And now, back to Famke and Halle," he said quickly as the helicopter flew away when a loud noise came from the building.

"I am here with a crowd of protestors. Apparently, they think mutants should be locked up and put in a place away from them because they are dangerous. Here, I'll get some opinions from one of them," Famke said formally as she put the microphone to a man in the crowd.

"They have sabotaged our way of living," the man spoke with arrogance and hatred. "Now they are after our vice president when he only wanted peace. This is what happens when we want peace. We become vulnerable when the other side was never asking for it."

"Thank you," Famke said as the camera diverted towards Halle who was with another part of the crowd. She pointed her microphone towards a woman in the crowd. "Ma'am, would you like to put a word in?"

"They are planning to overrun everyone and we just can't allow it. We _will not _allow it."

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Author's Note: I breathe reviews and I'm dying here!!! So save someone's life out of the goodness of your hearts. I thought everyone would get a laugh out of the newscasters names!!! :) I just wanted to say thanks to my sister who gave me one of the ideas for this chapter. Thank you.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Chapter 10**

Very stealthily, Cyclops pushed himself and Sabretooth away from the sentinels right when the shooting of the sentinels hit the ground. They went down a little hole to the side of where they were standing. The sentinels believed they have done their duty because they were oblivious to where Cyclops and Sabretooth had gone behind all the smoke and destruction from their shootings.

Cyclops and Sabretooth came shooting out from the tunnel they had leapt into. Sabretooth landed on his back and Cyclops landed on him. Sabretooth let out a loud growl and roughly pushed Cyclops off of him. They both picked themselves off the ground and looked around.

"Let's go find the others. They have to be around here somewhere," Cyclops said in his leadership tone as they started walking straight. That was the only way to walk for behind them was the edge of the underground area of concrete, and next to that was a long way down full of blackness.

Sabretooth walked a few feet ahead of Cyclops as he looked around to be aware of all his surroundings. But then Cyclops felt a cold chill go up his spine. His knees buckled, his palms became sweaty, his eyes red, and goose bumps filled his whole body.

"Scott," Jean said as he was afraid to turn around. "What's wrong Scott?"

"Jean," Scott said with a softer voice than his usual one. "I…I was so afraid that you had left me. You took away my sanity, part of my soul. I didn't know what to do."

"It's ok Scott," Jean said as her footsteps neared him. "I'm here now." Scott turned around to see Jean's beautiful face. Her rosy cheeks lit up the room and her presence was more than enough. Scott reached out to touch her cheek and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear just to make sure she was real.

"Take my hand," Jean said as Scott obeyed. She took his hand in hers and led him forward to what seemed like a……beach. Scott smiled at the smell of the ocean, the breeze of the warm air, the feel of the soft sand, and the sight of the clear blue sky.

They approached the shore as Jean stopped and turned to him. "Oh Scott," Jean said as she put her arms around his chest and laid her cheek on the front of it. "Come with me."

"I'd go anywhere with you," Scott said as he hugged her back, holding her closer than he ever has, to make sure she never leaves.

"Don't ever let go," Jean said as she started moving into the ocean. Scott held onto her as a response to let her know that he would never let go. "Don't let go."

"I won't."

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"We have to help Logan," Storm said as she started moving the rocks that were lying on Logan's body to the side.

"Doesn't he heal or something? He can handle himself," Pyro said smugly as he started walking through the small tunnel that was left through all the rubble.

"John," Storm said with irritation as Pyro turned around in annoyance. "He won't have time to heal if he stays under here. Come on," Storm said sincerely as Pyro turned back around and continued walking, contemplating where he was headed to. Then he realized he had no idea where he was headed to exactly. But before he could make up his mind if he wanted to stay or not he felt a gust of wind fly past him and get stronger over his head.

He jumped back a little when the rocks from above him fell in front of him because of the wind. He turned back to look at Storm who's white eyes were now going back to their normal state. She nodded her head as he approached her and started removing the rocks.

Pyro busied himself with the rocks, for he did not want to converse with his old teacher and house mate. But she didn't hesitate a bit. "John, have you forgotten about everything?"

"I try really hard to," Pyro said coldly. "You know, it's a good thing that I'm here with Magneto. If I wasn't, I'd be at the boring mansion, missing all the action."

"Well Bobby and Rogue are part of the team now," Storm answered with a comeback as she rapidly removed the rocks from Logan's body until she saw a little bit of it.

Pyro just shrugged and began to remove the rocks more rapidly as well. But deep down he felt a pang of regret. Jealousy.

"Logan!" Storm exclaimed as she saw his face, bloody but healing slowly.

"So Bobby gets Rogue and an X-men uniform," Pyro mumbled to himself somewhat angrily as Storm busied herself with removing some rocks that were left.

He helped her unwillingly as he thought about Bobby and Rogue. He had not seen them at the little gathering upstairs. He wondered where they were at the moment.

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"It's your turn," Joe said as he looked at Bobby and Rogue. "Ready to be cured?"

"Stop this!!!" Rogue screamed as they dragged them along by their strong metallic chains. "You're crazy!!!"

"Yeah, maybe I am," Joe said with a smile as he remembered the half an hour of watching the first mutant being tortured. And now he's dying, slowly. "I mean being crazy is not such a bad thing. I'm getting rid of you, the X-men are here with my beautiful creation of the sentinels, and you're mansion is programmed to self-destruct."

"What?!?" Bobby exclaimed with fear for everyone at the mansion and hope of hearing that the X-men are here, although being attacked. Which meant they wouldn't find this place anytime soon.

"Thanks to you two inviting me to your mansion, I managed to pick up a disk with important information on it. Information that allowed me to go into your computer system and program def-con four," Joe said as he clapped his hands together. "Give yourselves a pat on the back for that."

A few members of the FoH dragged Rogue and Bobby to strap them down on to the iron table. But before they could do so, Rogue leaned her head forward close enough to put her forehead against the man with the patch's head. Their skin touched as she let out a shriek and he fell to the ground. She rolled to the floor and grabbed a key from the man's pocket. She unlocked Bobby's cuffs as he punched the man holding him in the nose.

He was reaching forward to unlock Rogue's cuffs but three members of the FoH reached for her. Bobby let out his hand to release ice towards the men's legs. They froze in their place as Bobby ran to Rogue and grabbed her gloved hand. They raced towards the way out as Joe let out water from one of the little tubs of water. It rushed over them as they were washed with the water and back to Joe.

Joe squeezed the water around them both tightly and lifted his hands to allow the water to enter their mouths. Bobby and Rogue choked on the liquid entering their system rapidly and cutting off their oxygen.

Then Joe dropped his hand as the water dropped with it. "Your torment is not going to be that short," he said eerily with a smile as he signaled for his men to tie them up again and strap them onto the tables.

His men obeyed as they strapped them down, hard. Joe looked at the machines and then at his men. "Every mutant in the world, one step at a time," Joe said evilly. "Let the process begin."

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"That was amazing," Jason said referring to the way Phoenix crushed the sentinels to bits and pieces.

"I know. That's what I'm best at," Phoenix said with the desirability of destruction.

"We are going to give the X-men what they deserve," Jason said cruelly as he turned to Phoenix. "Isn't that right, Darling?"

"Yes, of course," Phoenix said in a low eerie voice. "They are the enemy. They turned your father against you and they want to kill me and take me away from you."

"They are evil," Jason said.

"Yes. They must be stopped," Phoenix said as she looked outside the car window at the crushed building. They had flown to Washington D.C. after they knew about the little party the vice president was having and knew the X-men were going to be there. "Starting with their leader."

"Don't worry my dear. I might have already taken care of that," Jason said. "But if not, I'm sure you will."

"No doubt."

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Logan popped the rocks and rubble off of him as he stood up tall. Storm backed away a little at the sudden jump of Logan from under the debris.

"Are you ok?" Logan asked after his leap. Storm nodded and smiled. Logan felt a little weary but knew that feeling would go away in no time as soon as his wounds healed.

He cracked his neck to the side. He waited for his wounds to heal and then looked to Storm to see if everything was alright. While he was doing that he could not help notice Pyro looking at him in shock at the way he was concerned about Storm's health.

"Look kid," Logan said gruffly as he turned to him to give him an intimidating look. "I don't give a damn on who's side you're on, your coming with us." Pyro agreed immediately as they started walking. Logan let Ororo and John walk in front of him as he smelled around for any familiar scents.

When that was to no avail he took a moment to replay what he had heard Pyro say about Bobby and Rogue. Sometimes, he hated the fact that he had keen hearing abilities. He could hear pure jealousy in Pyro's voice. The whole situation seemed too familiar.

After Jean's supposed death, he had watched Scott loose his control in the jet. He had watched him being depressed and look as if he was empty. He had seen love like he had never seen before. Something he was not able to give Jean because it was simply not there, and something that he tried to take away from Scott by trying to pursue Jean. But he finally came to realize he was not that guy that held so much love for one woman. He was ready to move on. He would always care for Jean, but he could accept that she would never be his.

When Scott had gone crazy and then into shock, Logan wondered why. But when they saw Jean at the island and he had a hunch of why that had happened. She was a part of his soul and Logan was not about to change that. Anyway, there were plenty of other fish in the sea.

He had decided that it was time to move on and everything would be ok. But he knew Pyro had chosen something else. Logan knew that Pyro had not thought about how many people he was hurting.

And he feared Jean would not _know_ the people she might end up hurting.

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Phoenix looked out of the window with boredom and then turned to Jason with anxious eyes. "Is it time yet?" Phoenix asked with annoyance. She knew he was her fiancé and she should not disobey him but sometimes she felt as if she was just too powerful for her to be told to do something. Nonetheless she was still doing it.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Don't ask why Sweetie, please. I'm just waiting for the right moment," Jason said as they moved into another silence. Phoenix sighed as she pulled down the sun visor. She noticed that it had a mirror and she decided to pull it down. Phoenix failed to notice Jason not moving an inch and not blinking an eye. She failed to notice that he was concentrating on nothing particular and seemed to be in his own little world.

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"Come further into the water Scott," Jean said with laughter. "Come on. I promise I won't bite."

Scott let a small smile escape his lips as he neared her in the water. The water was so warm against his muscular chest that was visible through his dress shirt. He held on to her hand as he ran his fingers through her soft red hair.

Suddenly, Scott felt the water turn ice cold against his ankles. But that did not stop him from moving forward, deeper into the water. Scott looked down at the water that now touched his knees. The water was turning black. "Jean, the water," Scott said as he looked into her blue eye and then at her green one. "It's turning black."

"That's even better," Jean said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and jolted her head back into the water, pulling him down with her.

Suddenly Scott heard a loud growl that sounded like Sabretooth. It was Sabretooth. Scott had somehow fallen off of the edge of the concrete and was headed deeper than underground, into black nothingness. Nothing could save him now, for he was half-way down, unable to clutch something. Unable to see……

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The truth was that Phoenix did not want to notice Jason for she kept her eyes fixed on the mirror. Something different about her reflection caught her eyes. She felt that feeling again. The feeling that she had not felt ever since she found out who she was. She was the Phoenix.

Goose bumps ran up and down her spine as she looked at her reflection closer. Just a little bit closer.

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Just a little bit closer and Scott would hit the ground that he had been falling down to for what seemed like forever. Was it real? It felt real. But Scott could not think, he could not speak, could not scream. He could not hear, smell, or feel. Everything was black but he could not really see either. His body was numb and his mind was frozen.

Just a few feet from the hard ground that he was falling to with full speed. Just a few feet.

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Bobby and Rogue were strapped down to the tables as they started moving. Rogue closed her eyes with fear. She couldn't hear her breath anymore. All she could hear was the noise of the machines that were now turned on and moving quite rapidly.

She made another effort to contact Professor Xavier with her mind but the machines held her back from doing so. The machines were inching closer.

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"Do you……" Storm began as she froze in her place.

"Yeah I hear it 'Ro," Logan said as he walked down the long hall, increasing his speed. He unsheathed his claws and stopped when he came to a vent in the side of the wall. "I think you need to see this."

"What is it?" Storm asked as she ran up to join Logan, Pyro scurrying behind her.

"Listen."

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Scott could not feel it but he knew the space was getting tighter and smaller. The air around him was decreasing and becoming colder than it already was.

His limp hands scraped along the edges of the rock and concrete. Yet Scott could not feel anything.

Only inches away from the hard ground.

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Phoenix jolted back from looking at her reflection instantaneously. She was oblivious to the actions her body was creating. She could not control it.

She shut her eyes tightly for five seconds as she let out her hands and waved them downwards swiftly and slowly and calmly in the air. Suddenly, her eyes popped back open as she turned to Jason, who was staring at her with confusion.

Her eyes were flashing red now as she smiled mischievously. "Let's go."

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Scott's body floated down onto the floor that was inches from him swiftly, slowly, and calmly. His body was numb and his eyes were shut. His senses seemed to not be working at the moment.

Except one.

His body was numb but he could feel fire. Burning fire.

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Rogue let out a loud shriek as she saw the drill coming down to her stomach. It began to go through her shirt. Bobby started screaming her name, unable to do what he wanted to do at this moment. Protect her, save her, love her with all he had to give. But he could not do that because he saw a metal chopper coming down on him.

Rogue felt the tip of the drill touch the skin of her stomach through the hole in her shirt. She was dead. She could feel it. She knew she was dead. Was she in Heaven?

The sound of claws could be heard near her. Wait, Logan was dead too? She quickly opened her shut eyes to see Logan slashing his claws through the machine as lightning was seen flashing from the back. She looked to her left to see John. John! He was kicking the machine that was aiming towards Bobby out of the way.

Rogue smiled at Logan. "Thanks Logan."

"You thought I forgot about you, kid?" Logan said with a slight smile as he held up his claws to release the chains from her wrists.

"What took you so long?" Rogue asked as Logan's claws were coming down upon her chains. But before they could be broken, Logan was kicked across the room by a leg.

"Dear, dear Rogue," Joe said as he reached his hand towards her face but did not touch it. Rogue tried to back away from him but was held back by the chains. "It's not over yet." Joe reached out his hand to press the button on the side of the table Rogue was laying on to keep it moving towards the machines that were ahead. But before he could do so Logan came lunging forward with his unsheathed claws.

Joe managed to drop to the ground and roll away from him in time. But Logan raced towards him as Joe punched him in the face. Logan jolted back and then forward to hit his own face in Joe's. Joe went backwards and towards the glass cases filled with x-rays of hands with built-in metal claws. Glass was crushed all over the place as Logan slashed Joe's arm with his claws. Joe made a full turn away from Logan and clutched his arm with pain.

Logan ran towards Rogue and was ready to crush the chains off her arms, when he felt something along his back. It was the drill full of hot and fresh adamantium. The one he had used to kill Lady Death Strike. Logan froze in his place contemplating all possible things he could do to save himself and Rogue. But it all seemed too late.

Suddenly, ice coated the drill in Joe's hands. Logan turned to Bobby, who was standing behind Joe, and gave him a look of gratitude. Logan freed Rogue as Storm and John fought off the FoH and Bobby aimed a furious punch towards Joe.

But everyone stopped at the sudden noise overhead. The roof of the underground facility was blown off and moved to the side of the building as Jean floated over them, eyes glowing with raging fire.

"Oh shit," Logan said as everyone's eyes widened.

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Author's Note: You better review this chapter!!! I need feedback!!! More to come in the next chapter. Next chapter will be the last chapter……stay in tune to see who lives……and who may not……


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter 11**

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"There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except it's ending."

Abraham Lincoln

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'00:15' to demolition mode.

When Kitty and Colossus rushed like maniacs to call all the students and tell them to get out of the mansion, they had raced out the secret passage ways in a hurry to get away from their home that was about to explode. Colossus, Kitty, and Jubilee made sure that everyone was safe as they dodged the programmed defense system.

'00:05' to demolition mode.

Colossus hit the side of the wall that opened up into a passage way as he signaled for Jubilee and Kitty to come.

'00:01' to demolition mode.

The lights started flashing red as they made a beeping noise. Kitty quickly grabbed onto Piotr and Jubilee's hands as she closed her eyes with fear and tried to remember everything they were taught by the elders of the household. She knew she could do this. She had to do this.

Suddenly the explosion erupted as Kitty phased herself and everyone she was holding on to through anything and everything in the atmosphere. She held on tighter as she started phasing through the falling rocks and objects.

She could do this.

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Scott fluttered his eyes open as he sensed something in his whole body that made him shiver. Jean was here. He knew Jean was here.

He got up easily and knew he was somehow unharmed from the great fall. He tilted his head up to try and see any kind of light. But he could not. He had to get to her. He had to.

But how was he going to get out of here? "Come on, Scott," he said to himself. "You can do this." He looked around for any kind of dent in the rocks so he could climb up. To his surprise he found one. He jumped onto it and felt around for another crack so he could climb a little higher. One step at a time.

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Rogue and Bobby had not yet seen her. They had not been aware that she was living and breathing their air. They did not know if they should be joyful about this situation or not because at the moment she did not look too friendly.

"Who the hell are you?!?" Joe screamed with anger at the unexpected outrage. Phoenix just glanced at him to send him flying to the other side of the large room full of controls and scientific equipment. Joe landed on one set of controls as sparks flew from it and the lights began to flicker, which made the already grayish green room darker.

"I am Phoenix!" Jean yelled as she let out evil laughter.

"Jean, whah are ya doin this?" Rogue asked with confusion as she looked up at Jean and saw the visible sky. Phoenix just let out her hand to jolt Rogue back against Bobby and John. Rogue's glove hooked onto Bobby's front pockets and was pulled off of her hand as she struggled to get up. They suddenly felt another force field smack them in their backs to allow them to fumble for balance, causing Rogue's uncovered hand to aim towards Bobby and John's faces. All three of them fell into the little, yet deep pool of water that Joe arranged.

"Get the kids!" Storm exclaimed to Logan as he raced over to the little pool. He jumped in and dived to the bottom when he suddenly felt himself being lifted out of the water. Phoenix lifted him a little higher out of the water and threw him against the wall.

When Logan recovered he ran towards the table with unsheathed claws. He jumped on the table to allow himself to jump up higher to reach Jean in the air, but she just let out her hand to bring down a chain from the walls, wrap it around a still standing pipe and encircle it around Logan's neck in the air.

Storm watched Logan strangle and struggle to move his claws the right way. She lifted herself in the air and summoned lightning to try and slow her friend down. She was not intending on harming her in any way, but from what she was seeing, she needed to be stopped. So her eyes, glazed with white, shot lightning and summoned winds towards Phoenix as Phoenix simply burned it out with her finger and turned the lightning back at Storm as Storm fell to the ground.

Phoenix twisted and turned in her position in the air as she clenched her fists. "Where is he?!?" Phoenix questioned with anger as she lifted herself higher and raised her arms as if she was carrying something extremely heavy. The four walls of the facility's operation room exploded upwards and out towards the higher ground above the room.

A blue man and a blue woman were now revealed from behind all the debris that Phoenix removed in order to find who she was especially looking for. A bald man, another elder man lying spread out on the ground, and a tall, hairy man were also revealed in the now wide open room.

Phoenix let out an agonizing scream as her fierce power brought Jason tumbling down from the surface. He let out a scream as Phoenix stopped him from smashing to the ground with her hands.

"Well, well, well," Joe said as he picked himself up and looked at Jason with hatred in his eyes. "If it isn't Mutant 143. Have you finally come to see how I've grown?" Joe said with sarcasm as he neared Jason. "You couldn't even create an illusion to make me believe that you were a good father?"

Kurt watched everything happening in front of him and tried to contemplate it all. He quickly noticed Storm lying on the ground and Logan choking to death. He teleported towards Logan and grabbed his arms but it slipped from his fingers as he fell to the ground with a loud thud. He screamed in pain as he looked up to see Jean. He looked to his side to see Storm helpless on the ground. Her eyes opened slowly and weakly as Kurt muttered the words, "It's going to be alright. Everything vill be fine."

Logan quickly released the chains from his neck with his claws that were being held back by Jean when she was distracted. He fell to the ground coughing, but recovered quickly.

Mystique watched Kurt fall to the ground after saving Logan and quickly shape shifted into a bird to fly up to Phoenix. When she got there she shape shifted into herself and kicked her in the face. Phoenix immediately grabbed her neck and threw her downwards. "WHERE IS HE?!?" Phoenix screamed almost to herself as she searched the room.

Logan got up quickly and raced towards Mystique's falling body. He caught her slender body and looked at her for a moment before he set her down slowly and raced towards Rogue, John, and Bobby who were still in the water.

Kurt turned towards his mother and held her body in his arms. "Are you alright?" Kurt asked as Mystique released herself from his arms. He gave a little smile and tried to help Storm gain a little more consciousness.

Logan dove into the water and grabbed Rogue's arm to bring her to the surface. She tumbled over and released the water from her suffocating mouth. Logan dived back in to retrieve Bobby and John. Once they were alright he took a minute to catch his own breath as Phoenix raised him in the air and pulled on his body with non-visible forces. "Where is he?" she whispered with rage as Logan shook his head. Phoenix searched his mind, but to no avail and just dropped him towards Joe's machines under him.

"Logan!!!" Rogue exclaimed as she jumped him, to send them both tumbling behind the machines instead.

Phoenix searched everyone's minds but no one knew where he was. She had to get to him first. She could finish with them so easily, but she wanted to get rid of _him_ first. Her head suddenly darted towards the little black corner that led downwards. She disappeared into thin air, leaving only a ray of light behind as it too dissolved in the air.

As soon as she left, everyone suddenly realized Joe and Jason in a hand-to-hand combat with each other.

"Jason," Professor Xavier whispered from the corner of the room near the helpless Magneto who Sabretooth was helping.

"Joe," Rogue said quickly with determination. "It doesn't have to be this way. You can end this feud right now and start a new beginning."

Joe turned to Rogue and laughed. He kicked his father towards the table that Rogue was lying in as Jason's hand touched the button to the side of the table to start the machines and to start the moving table. The machines drilled into Jason's skin more quickly than Rogue had witnessed before. Their little scene with Jean obviously changed the function of the controls.

Joe watched as Jason was crushed by the machines. Everyone watched in pity and horror as Joe gave a weird smile. "In order to defeat your enemy, you have to know your enemy," he said with a small laugh at how that worked out for him. He had killed a man that he did not know. His own father. "There's never an end," he said to Rogue and to himself as he grabbed a machine gun from the ground and shot himself.

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"There you are," Phoenix said with a laugh as she pointed to him to create a red force field around him and lift him from the rocks he was desperately climbing.

"Jean," Scott said innocently as he looked at her furious features. "What are you doing?"

"This," Phoenix said as she lifted him and herself out from the dark area and all the way up to the grassy area on the surface. Scott screamed with pain that was all over his body now. Phoenix entered his mind and caused a loud noise to echo within to give him mental pain.

She set him down harshly and removed his visor with her telekinetic powers. Scott's red beams darted towards the trees right when the visor was taken from him but he quickly shut his eyes to keep everyone around him safe. He did not want to harm Jean in any way. But the trees he had hit had come falling down on her as he shook his head with fear and reached for his visor. He placed it back on his face and saw the trees toppled over one another, but no Jean.

"No," Scott said as he turned around to see Storm flying up with the Professor and Kurt teleported with Logan. He turned back around to see Jean emerge from the trees without a scratch on her face. Scott quickly turned to his teammates and spoke without hesitation.

"There is a force inside her taking over her body. A powerful force," Scott said as he felt a rush of cool air fly through him.

"How the hell do you know that?!?" Logan yelled.

"I don't know."

"Cyclops, you are correct. The legends are true, the Phoenix dies and is reborn again. It seems to have inhabited Jean's body," Professor Xavier stated. "And the only way to stop it's destruction is to kill the body and mind that it shares." Professor Xavier frowned at the thought, but he knew it was the only way.

"What?!? Professor, no," Scott said as his eyebrows creased with fear.

"It is the only way to stop her from destroying everything in her path," Professor Xavier said painfully.

"It can't be. There is always another way!" Cyclops screamed, to his surprise. Professor Xavier just turned away grimly as Cyclops shook his head with fear.

But his back suddenly straightened as his jaw tightened and he walked away. Prepared for battle.

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Scott heard the words Professor Xavier had told him earlier. He knew he had to kill Jean to save everyone. But his hand would not move towards his visor. It could not. Instead, he got Jean's attention and looked at her for what seemed like a moment frozen in time. "If you want to kill me, do it!" Scott exclaimed as he held out his arms away from him and approached her slowly to look up and see her full of fury. "Go ahead. Kill me."

"THEN COME CLOSER YOU COWARD!!!" Phoenix screamed at the top of her lungs as her eyes flashed yellow and fire circled around her with rage. Scott did nothing but come closer.

"Kill me."

Phoenix screamed at the top of her lungs as she looked at Cyclops' face. She lifted her hands, where fire was sprouting out of, and leaned her fingers against her temples in pain. She felt her heart pierce with something she has never felt before. The images and voices ran through her head like a flash of lightning.

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"You can run, but you can't hide," Scott said eerily with a laugh while Jean ran from him as her body trembled with fear.

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"Shut up!" Scott exclaimed with cruelness. "Just shut up! You. You possess too much power. For that, we have to kill you. And I'm going to enjoy doing it too."

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"But I can kill you," Jean exclaimed as she raised herself in the air and through the roof of the dreadful prison like room. Fire escaped her in the shape of the bird as it darted towards Scott.

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"I love you," Jason said as he kissed her cheek.

"I love you too," Phoenix said.

She felt as if the images had just been a figment of her imagination. They were so blurry to her now. Her body started shaking uncontrollably as she held her hand to her heart and started falling.

She heard a sweet voice, a familiar one ring through her ears. It was so reassuring and loving. Everything she could see in front of her went black as her ears could not take in any voice in the background. Her heart sank and her head fell back. All she could hear was that one sweet voice.

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"Scott, I keep feeling something terrible is about to happen," Jean said as Scott pulled her into his arms. So strong, so warm, so comforting.

"I'd never let anything happen to you," Scott whispered.

Jean began to fall as she felt the hot fire escape her and heard loud explosions in the air. She knew she was about to hit the ground but her body would not budge. It would not move an inch. Her muscles were relaxed because she felt something there.

Scott ran towards her falling body and caught it carefully as he fell to his knees. He looked at her as tears started to come out of his eyes.

"Funny to think you could get rid of me Jean," Scott said lightly. "I _am_ you." She buried her face in Scott's chest and broke out in sobs. He held her closer than he ever has. His heart did not feel empty anymore and his body did not move. He did not want to think, he did not want to know, he did not want to see, hear, or smell. He just wanted to feel. He wanted to feel Jean in his arms.

His arms would not let go. Ever.

"I love you Jean," Scott finally said after the longest moments.

"I love you too," Jean said smoothly, like water running down a river. So natural, so real. She knew who she was now. In Scott's arms.

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The dark, gray sky hovered over their heads with intensity as the wet drops of rain started to fall. Slowly at first, but then with increasing speed over the fire and the crumbled material on the moist ground.

Everyone muttered nothing but silence as they stood with their hands dropped to their sides and their shoulders restless on their arms. Only the small sobs of Jean's voice could be heard in the echo of the silent and peaceful trees and the soft rain.

Mystique, Sabretooth, and Pyro did not utter a word or move an inch. For at that very moment they were speechless over the dead body of Magneto. He lye in a pool of blood that was flowing towards them by the rain.

Bobby held Rogue close as did Kurt to Storm. "There is always another way," Professor Xavier said with sadness dripping in his voice which echoed through everyone's minds. After those words were uttered, he looked towards Jean and Scott, who were holding each other closely and looking solemnly at Magneto's lifeless body. "There is always another way," he repeated a little louder this time.

The rain fell onto their heads with dullness as the Brotherhood and the X-men stood in silence. Echoing silence.

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"I tried to make peace with them but they simply refused it," the president said with a slight glare and hardness in his voice. "We will not be intimidated. They will not intimidate us."

Everyone in the crowd cheered for him loudly as he waited for them to calm down before he continued speaking. "They are unlike us. They have no emotions, no regard for the morals of human beings," the president said with cruelty. He looked down at his appointment paper quickly while the crowd cheered. He knew he had to make this speech quick for he had an appointment about the sentinels with a man called Graydon Creed. The new leader of the new and improved FoH. "I do not wish for anything but peace for our country. And great leaders throughout history made their nations prosperous through wars, as I will do."

The crowd went wild with cheers and screams as the president stepped down from the podium and waved to the crowd. He smiled at the clueless faces. He watched the happy faces as they followed his lead, oblivious of the truth behind their own president.

**__**

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God rest Eric Lensherr's soul.

Entry eleven- Day "no end" :

Hey there. Let me introduce myself again. I'm Rogue. I'm an X-man. Rogue the X-man, or X-woman. Doesn't that have a nice ring to it?

Before this day, I wouldn't believe there was hope for us living with the rest of the world. But Kurt says that God watches over all of us. He says that in a way God is blind. He can't see black from white, big from small, human from mutant. To him, everyone can have a place in Heaven, where everyone is loved.

Jason and Joe's hatred caused their own deaths. If this war with mutants and humans continues, hatred will kill us as well. But there will always be those people who disagree with the rightful thing. Those who cause ruin and destruction. Generation after generation. In all honesty, there is no end.

The mansion was destroyed…… but it's not about the home, it's about the people. Everyone's safe thanks to Kitty! And we are going to rebuild it from the ashes, just as Jean was.

Everyone has smiles on their faces because Jean's fate was not as we believed. Her fate is here, with us, with Scott. It was not her time to leave this world, and nothing can change that. She is destined to be part of the X-men. To help find peace and use our powers for good.

I'm looking at Jean right now. She looks as if she's leaped into her soul and found a piece of her that she didn't have before, that she didn't know of before, especially with Scott by her side. Don't they make the cutest couple?

Which brings me to me. I looked in the mirror today to see something twinkle in my eyes. Something that wasn't there before. A bright light that I haven't seen in me until now. Do you know why?

………Because today I hold my head high and smile at my name.

****

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The End……or so you think……


End file.
